It's Clicking

Charlie Poshcob and I are learning clicker trading together I click and treat as I feel appropriate and he teaches me if I have done it correctly. Ok it goes a little deeper than that but we are both still learning. Over the past few weeks we have learnt that you do not have to gallop off when being brought out of the field if someone has left a rug on your gate or heaven forbid brought a rug down in a wheelbarrow and abandoned it in full vision.

More importantly we have learnt that chainsaws are not that frightening. Always having my bag and clicker is paying dividends as no matter how much Mr Farmer chuckles at me and my clicker meeting him by the barn busy massacring logs was a bonus. It was so much of a bonus that on Sunday on our hack a chain saw started up right behind the hedge. He twitched ARGH CHAINSAW and then oh yes I remember it's fine. We got a repeat today as we returned to his paddock Mr Farmer with his pet chainsaw again. He offered to turn it off and I said no it's fine and Charlie had a quick huff and then looked at me with a look of ' Brilliant it's a chainsaw give us a click and a treat'.

Smaller snakes and Bigger Ladders

Its a while since Charlie and I have updated our blog and looking back to last year I said an x KS horse was like a game of snakes and ladders but I will confess the snakes are smaller and the ladders bigger.

Hacking continues to be mostly positive I stick to going out in company as that is where we both feel most confident  and in fact at times Charlie takes the lead when others balk at small dragons.

We are now riding in the bottom fields happily and hacking back up the road as a relax I also try to take him for a buckle end chill post lessons down to the bottom paddock and letting him steal some grass.

We have now cantered in the Grove which was the scene of disaster in 2012 and i must say he was a very nice boy indeed.

We have had short solo hacks and one slightly longer which started badly and ended well.

We were all set to enter some small dressage competitions but then I had a run of bad luck. I think in hindsight he tweaked somthing but it involved me being bronced off in July so the old saying listen to your horse was not adhered to. I was schooling in the bottom field and worked too long he got grumpy and so did I.

I have had his saddle adjusted and his teeth checked and feel it may be saddle numnah combination which caused him to dump me as since this was done he has felt a nicer smoother ride.

Dont lose the concentration

We have had a marvellous few weeks together and some awesome hacks. Charlies canter is finally starting to show some promise and hopefully soon the bottom fields will be open so that we can work  on this outside. it has mostly been indoors on the lunge. We have had some lovely hacks with some little hiccups including one on our own whoo hoo.

Last Saturday we attended a Massage and Stretching Clinic at Putloe Court and here is a picture of my handsome boy relaxing in the break.

 

We have had a few little hiccups but that i feel is because I wasnt quite so accurate with his Equifeast supplement. Hopefully we are now back on track.

 

Big grins

It's been a lovely week with Charlie. I rode in the field and did in hand thus week. Here is a photo of us hacking back up the track with happy ears. He is such a contented boy.

Today we hacked out with his field buddy Munchkin and the boys took it in turns to lead.

Joy of joys on the way back through the bottom fields we popped a jump not brilliantly but with dressage length stirrups. Must add more holes. He was lovely. It just keeps getting better.

Lots of Light Bulbs!!!

More and more Charlie's confidence is growing out hacking and so is mine.

The Equifeast Cool Calm and Collected is definitely helping tone down his reactions to things he is frightened of and he isn't so jumpy this in turn helps me be braver.

My lessons with Alastair again bolster our confidence as Charlie listens to my seat and leg aids and Mr A teaches me not to use my hands so much and drop my shoulder at the wrong time.

So schooling is going well and my confidence is growing but still pretty flaky due to our history.

Now the icing on the cake.....

Jenny Rolfe. I have joined her Facebook group BREATHE LIFE INTO YOUR RIDING and bought the book. It takes some reading as my Kerataconus and corneal scarring make black print on white challenging you cannot triple click and reverse colours like you can on an Ipad but that's another story.

So with Jenny's support online her book and her friends and students I am focussing on my effect on Charlie's confidence. Everyone keeps telling me he is fine it's me that needs fixing but that's easily said unless you are standing in my anxious shoes and no one who has never had their confidence smashed  as much as mine can really give an opinion, in my opinion.

My fellow liveries have me in hand and I am getting lots of hacking with good company.

Following Jenny's advice on breathing I have slipped into a new way of going.

On hacks instead of concentrating on what Poshcob might do I concentrate on my breathing, my relaxed seat, my relaxed legs and a very very light contact. Going on a loose rein and having me a bit looser is having a major effect on his confidence and mine. In fact it is only now I am becoming more relaxed and looser I can recognise how tense I was before poor Charlie.

I still have my anxious moments but confidence is growing and we have had happy mud splashed hacks cantering along tracks and wrapping my arms around his lovely neck to duck under trees.

Our diet continues and we have now split the paddock in half so he and his field buddy can diet together. Here the boys doing a bit of mutual grooming.

12 April

 Hacking yesterday he was much more confident. He went out with a horse that spooked him before and, apart from a hiccup because of black fertiliser bags near the beginning which I tensed at, he was a good boy riding parallel with his buddy,leading past several things his buddy didn't like and only jumped in behind him once. Neither of them liked a man up a ladder with a hedge trimmer but who can blame them.

Canter work - Alastair tried him in canter today in the school and it has become obvious that while he canters well on the lunge when he has a rider on board he does one or two correct strides then the hocks trail out the back and he hollows badly. He did, however, have some nice moments. We will work on this in the field.

I have taken to pootling down to the field after lessons and letting him mooch and graze buckle end so that he sees the bottom field as a relaxed place to be.

Rolling....interestingly I washed him down after our lesson and pootle today.

He stood by the muck heap patiently while I washed him off and remained quietly stood when I chucked the last if the clean water over him. I should add that he wasn't tied up he just stood there for me. then turned him out naked and while I was chatting to someone on the subject of rolling he got down for a roll. Now hear this .......  he rolled and rolled and then flexed his back and flipped over so he did both sides. Whoop whoop result!

 

 

Saddlery Doo Dah

We had our Saddler out today and it is so interesting to see your horse through another pair of eyes.

Firstly a fellow livery also had another saddler out and was being advised about the balance of her saddle. Her saddler demonstrated how her horse had been bracing himself and built up muscles in his lower neck and had dropped his back by constantly hollowing. Both boys were tied up together and I looked across at Charlie and thought 'ooh Charlie's back looks so much flatter than it used to'.

As this thought entered my head my friend said 'look how nice and flat Charlie's back is'.

Next my saddler turned up and I discussed the fact that we had lost weight and the saddle was tipping forward. 'You know why that is' he says. 'Charlie now has withers'. Whoop whoop and more Zipidee Dooh Dah. Then he says with our rate of shape change I may need checking every three months. Pah a saddler with pretensions of my paying for a Ferrari in quarterly instalments.

 It was interesting to see that when he got his bendy template out and put it across the withers what we have built between us is a nice wither shaped V. Last year the same bendy template came out almost dead flat.

Unfortunately as he is so careful with our saddle he wouldn't top up the flocking in situ and has taken it away to make it perfect. So I am grounded for a few days. I don't really want to give him time off so I may well be doing some major walking.

No Carrots here!

I would just like to share how lovely Charlie is. We are having a quietish week as we have lost weight and need our saddle checked and I need braces.

So this morning we did groundwork.

The groundwork was just a little bit of working with head and neck to inside,rein back- dead straight, whoop whoop, that sneaked up on us bottom used to waggle in every direction. Leg yield and shoulder in.

We did our leg yield together, I nearly cried when I remember trying 12 to 18 months ago he was dreadful. Today I walked sideways very clearly crossing my legs and he did too we was like twins :D

We finished off in the school doing 'no carrot' stretches. I had a bag of hay and a clicker. Each stretch was achieved with clicker and a fist of hay. The stretches to shoulder need refining as we haven't done them for a while and Mr Poshcob has a naughty habit of rotating to make it easier. Apparently a half Nelson with one leg hooked around his ears is not the way to achieve this correctly no matter how tempting it may be. The stretches to his side were wonderful he could get to his stifle both sides and the the one between his legs was fantastic. So glad I was in the school as this involved him nearly sitting on his bottom to get to his beloved hay.

What amazed me was he was loose with a head collar on and I parked him on the long side so we had a wall for the side stretches. When I went back to my hay bag he would turn and watch until I came back with my hay twist tucked in my pocket.

The rest if the time he follows me around the school like a big dark bay Labrador. Just love this boy to pieces.

Three More Hacks

Another week has flown by and 3 more hacks under our belts all with varying levels of company and success. The diet continues although this morning I have a sneaking suspicion the grass is putting weight back on we shall see.

We are still using Equifeast's Cool Calm and Collected and it definitely makes a difference although I am still tweaking the magnesium levels and we have migrated to Sensible Essentials which includes vits and mins  as we are soaking his hay and with the weight issues that needs to increase to mostly soaked.

The Hacks - firstly with one other horse who wasn't very forward going so we ended up in front too far and for too long. All disobedience was minor however when I sternly said 'Get on' at one point my companion whimpered that her horse was frightened and started walking out more. Apparently he was worried.

Second hack with 3 was lovely and I gave myself a holiday by riding at the back so I didn't have to plan and think. It also gave me the chance to practise a sneaky leg yield or two as the others don't hack and school so much. I was delighted that when we trotted up the very steep lane home I could actually use my legs and close my hands to slow the trot down with no objections and then soften and let him catch up. Perfect.

The last hack on Sunday was the big one. It was an OMG and eek from me as we went with 3 others, no change there, but but but we went up the hill the other way and through the woods to the scout hut. I have not gone this way since the infamous incident of the mountain bike which I believe was September. Obviously my memory is better than Charlies as I was tense and he was just chilled and very nosey.

We had one incident where he spun 180 as the pretty mare with us spooked and he loves her to pieces and immediately though oh no Lions Run! and one where she had a bit of a flid and he said eek and did a bounce.
I was absolutely delighted as none of this sent my heart racing and I felt very stable and secure. I was also delighted that as back of the ride I could slow his trot down and get some sneaky steady quiet canters in with no issues at all.

My tools of safety are :-

Neueschule Verbindend with Universal fittings. Its the same mouthpiece that we school in so he is used to it and doesn't get upset at gently applied brakes.

Breastplate and Martingale (doubles as a neck strap).

Acavallo Gel out pad <<<<< I had not had a chance to test this in emergency situations but when he panicked and spun in the woods I was delighted to find that my legs were still wrapped round his sides and my bum was firmly in the saddle.

My lovely Ariat Grasmere boots which keep my legs hugging his sides.

And not forgetting my BP hat and on the advice of my trainer a nice short whip so I can hold it on his worried shoulder.

Zipidee Dooh Dah!

Well folks if it wasn't so exciting in Anna land it would nearly be boring.

However today we reached a milestone in our hacking out.

 We hacked out with one other horse and Charlie was magnificent. He Took the lead several times when his companion was being a bit of a Jesse. It was all road work because we realised there was a mad Motorbike trail going on in the woods. Part of it was in the lanes too and we went past lots of trail bikes then later motorbikes with sidecars (I shied he didn't) and met several groups of cyclists on a road race.

He led his companion under a railway bridge and later on past a sheet that had blown onto a grass verge he was magnificent very much the horse I fell in love with when I bought him.

We rode through a village with parked Cars everywhere and unfortunately got separated as his companion pulled into a gap to let a car go past. We were in front and the gap she though we would stand in was too small. If Charlie had decided to play up there wasn't enough room. We trotted on to a big gap opposite a builders yard and parked him up in the gateway.

I looked back and thought oops his pal is a long way back. Was he worried? Nope he confidently stood there and waited for his Pal to join him.

Happy days!

Getting there hacking.

A week has now passed and we have success on the diet and horse front.

The soaked hay is going down a storm Charlie loves the mix some days his choice is soaked and some days his choice is dry but both are eaten.

The draining in the tub works a treat and the 3kg soaked is easy easy to lift out. I open up the tap in the morning and serve the hay for tea in his hotel rooms.

The new Equifeast regime is working however some days he scoffs his breakfast and some days he picks at it. 

So Current feed regime Half Hay (3kg) soaked for 12 hours and half fed dry another 3-4 kg.

1 mug of Fast Fibre with 1 level scoop of Lo Mag and 4 rounded spoons of Magnesium added. 

I had a good lesson Friday and then we hacked out Saturday and Sunday and he was a very good boy. He led part of the way hacking on Sunday but did have two blips where he decided to turnround and ask someone else to lead but then Rome wasnt built in a Day and they were only minor. We hacked out again this morning with 3 others one of whom he hasn't hacked with before.

I am not going to ask him to hack alone for some time as he is so much better I keep being asked out as he is not seen as dodgy company and I am not so neurotic.

His weight has come down to about 585 hard to tell with the flakey weight tape system but he is looking better and the girth is easier.

Back at Slimmers World

Well Charlie hasn't really lost much weight but then I am chipping away at it rather than starving the poor creature. They have been in quite a lot over the last two weeks and this has not helped his waist line.

We have also been tinkering with his Equifeats Cool Calm and Collected trying the get the Magnesium Calcium balance correct.

So I need to have a good workable plan for the diet that follows through for summer. To this end I am going to not only weigh all his hay but also soak part of his ration.

To this end I have acquired a small garden water but with a lid and tap. A large plastic flowerpot upended in the bottom works as a stand for the Haynet. Filled up with water to top of net then when it's ready turn the tap on and it drains itself without dislocating my shoulders.

I introduced Charlie to his ration of half dry half soaked hay this evening. The hay had only soaked for under two hours but was,apparently, his hay of choice as he dug the dry hay away to get to the partly soaked.

Clicking with Charlie

Well I am still working through my Ben Hart book printed matter is not my favourite as my eye condition makes printed text challenging to read unless the light is perfect. That said I like the man and what he is saying so that's a good start.

My initial training I attempted on the yard and it would appear that the mere act of tying my horse up and getting ready to click reward brings every flipping horse noise and distraction onto the yard. I was sticking to a rule that he only got a click and reward if he had done something and chose step forward. I was purposely tying him up where he is shod as the ultimate is to get him farrier savvy. Then it appeared to me he was getting a little snatchy. He wasn't understanding the point and tried 'When you tie up here I get sweeties.'

Today I read the page on target training where Ben commented on the error of using the same hand as the target for treats so is the horse sniffing your target or the treat smell. I read on and made my plan to move location and get stuck in to using a  stick target instead.

Using a school as recommended would not be ideal as we are in the hysterical land of winter school use particularly as the dreaded yard board had the statement ALL HORSES IN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. I can't say I am surprised the fields are dire and they all line up at the gate waiting to come back in.

Stable it is then. I planned ahead. 

1. Remove hay 

2. Bum bag with ickle bits of apple

3. Clicker

4. Homemade target - Stick with half litre plastic milk carton taped to it.

What else do I need that's everything isn't it? Oops no I also needed my victim Charlie the Poshcob.

Charlie stood gazing at me with a resigned look of 'Need Hay Now' on his face.

I introduced the milk carton.

'Good Grief what is that I want hay' he moved away snorted and then sniffed it. I decided that counted so did click reward. We repeated this twice and then he decided if I was going to keep making him sniff a milk carton he would sulk at the back of the stable instead.

We repeated it a little more and it appeared to make him think. Then he had a plan he decided he would just have the treats. I stood patiently with my elbow covering the bum bag and said NO.

Thank heavens I have a horse who understands English. I reiterated that in order to get a click and a treat he had to sniff the milk bottle. I think he was getting the idea. We will have to see.

So what have we gained today.

I have learnt to be very patient.

It does appear to make him think.

It's something else to do with him when they are grounded due to averse weather.

His gorgeously handsome next door neighbour Jake was intrigued and gazed adoringly through the bars. He had a look on his face that seemed to say 'I'll kiss a mIlk bottle for a treat.'

Charlie has learnt that I am just a little bit bonkers but I think he started to realise he had to earn his treats.

Confidence begins to shine.

This morning I turned Charlie out alone except for one other horse in another paddock something I have never dared do before. Normally he would be scanning the distance looking for Wolves ,Lions or Dragons. He would be alert walking down the track and scan the fields for threats that had frightened the others off.

He would graze eating a mouthful and then lift his head alert for any dangers. He would canter across the field to the nearest horse to say 'Hi! Are there any dragons out here today please?' (He is very polite)

Today he strolled casually down the track beside me.

I turned him out and he strolled gently to the area we put a little hay out.

He ignored the other horse and just waited for his bit of loose hay.  I anxiously went back up to muck him out slowly, nipped back to the car as I could view down the valley from here. He was happily munching oblivious to any dragons.

I prepared to drive home checked again all fine. I had left his head collar on the gate just in case.

Later on I went back and brought him in. By then everyone else was out. I called hi and he strolled over casually took his bit of apple and strolled magnificently relaxed beside me. I knew he had been ok as there was no unhappy mud on him.

So fingers crossed I am not speaking too soon things are definitely looking up. His confidence is growing so now I have to continue building it up.

Charlies Slimmers World

Following on from our Physio saying Charlie was Chunky a few small changes have been put in place. I should add that I had already noticed the floor feeding was affecting his waistline and that measuring his hay by placing it in a wheelbarrow, decanting it into his stable and then kicking it may not have been accurate.

The steps taken are:

Only use his zero fill turnout rug (dont worry I havent switched from 450g I was putting a 70g on if I felt cold) he is quite a warm chap.

Weigh all his hay and if I give him some tied on the yard it has to come from his weighed ration. I am not of the school that thinks a horse should be in a hungry stable but I am pleased to note that he only has a few wisps left on the floor am and on In days what I give him is no longer walked around his bed.

Added to this he eats his small bowl of porridge and Equifeast CCC enthusiastically of a morning and when turned out doeant wait for his slice of Apple. We give them a little hay in the field.

Fat scoring - well this seems a bit of a science so here goes.

Divide the horse into 3 areas and take the average. Here goes :

Neck - fairly firm not really a crest more muscle than fat = 3.5

Back and Ribs - Ribs covered less of a gutter along spine can feel processes some fat on shoulder = 4

Pelvis - Gutter soft fat (but not as bad as it was in summer = 4

That makes our average 3.8. Weigh tape which is a bit flakey says 595kg but I go by saddle and girthing up and he has definitely lost some around his barrel since the beginning of winter.

Physio Bits and Clicks.

Charlies Physio Grace Fairburn came to see him on Wed 29th and was very pleased with him the knot in his neck has gone and his range of movement and his back flexibility are all good. he wont need to see her again for 3 months. However she has said he is  chunky which in my book is another way of saying 'fat'! This is probably as a result of going to floor feeding rather than controlled nets about 6 weeks ago.

We have changed bits. In my lesson on Friday we had a good look in his mouth and agreed contrary to my thoughts he has got plenty of space in the roof of his mouth however he has a very thick tongue and my Neue Schule bit is pressing on it.
We popped him into a 16mm Verbindend and after an initial getting used to it phase he settled down nicely so time will tell. The lesson was awesome.

We hacked again Saturday morning just Charlie and his field buddy Munchkin. Both boys were very well behaved and Charlie led most of the way. As a result of the bit change I had another look at his hacking bit and decided to drop it a hole each side. He seemed to much prefer this a chomped quite happily instead of waggling his tongue everywhere. I had forgotten my antislip pad for my saddle and i dont know if it was the bit change or the saddle pad but for the first time ever he came back from the hack as cool as a cucumber hardly any sweat at all.
Today  we have weighed his hay. I borrowed a scale from another livery. I would say the weight I got off him pre Xmas has gone back on as a result of floor feeding. We give them hay in the field but only a little.
I filled my wheelbarrow around about what he normally gets but I always top up too.
I weighed it and it was about 10kg so I guess I have been giving him nearer 12kg. I used a bag from my garden shredder, its a plastic hessian one with two handles, and that filled is 3kg and very filled is 4kg. Weighing it by filling a haynet and then emptying is too much hassle but as its easy to stuff it in an open bag.
I have a rope with a big clip on it that used to have the haynet on it so it made the job of weighing it in the stable very easy. tomorrow we will see how he felt and then start reducing a little more.

The Clicker Training has started I have purchased a book by Ben Hart. We are just doing small steps to get him used to click means good.

We have had another slight feed change and dropped the Topspec Topchop Lite. He was only having a small amount but as it has Alfalfa in it I am trying him without it. So he jsut gets a mug of Fast Fibre and a dose of Equifeast CCC.

Continued improvement :)

Its a little while since I updated so where are we now let's see.

Hacking - I hacked out with two friends yesterday Chris my hacking mentor on the lovely Robin and. Kim on her little cob Beau a sweetie who is only just 4.

The three boys did good together and our only hiccup was meetings tractor hedge trimming on peak lane and nobody wanted to go past it.

The passing was somewhat explosive but managed even though the driver who had turned it down started up too soon.

Schooling - going very well ever week our lessons just get better and the contact although lost at times returns more often and more consistently. Today we did an exercise riding a figure of 8 and riding a circle at each end of the 8 leg yielding on change of rein to get the hind leg more active. Who knew we would ever get this far!

Clicker training - I am of a mind to try some clicker training with Charlie and to this end have purchased a clicker and am perusing books on La Interwebly thing trying to decide who to invest in.

Equifeast - we are still on the cool calm and collected mid mag but tried upping the magnesium and this led Charlie to be a little silly. 

Diary date stopped adding extra magnesium on Tuesday 21/1/14.

Finally bitting Charlie does not like our hacking bit at all I am using the nathe bubble bit with a lozenge. We are thinking about trying a Pelham.

Contact and Hacking

Tuesday I found it at last. For the first time ever with Charlie Poshcob I found my contact and had him working into it. Sigh!

I have spent a long time searching for it and he has spent a considerable time being annoyed by my search when he wasn't struggling with his own dental challenges.

We managed to repeat the exercise on Thursday and then we had our lesson on Friday afternoon. My trainer upped the game a bit and unfortunately I lost my nice contact. It will come back but I was truly miffed as was Charlie.

And today we hacked again and Charlie was lovely if we don't count the bit where he shook like a giant Labrador and I nearly fell off. It was a beautiful morning for a hack so enjoyable with our field buddy Munchkin.

Two lush days playing with Charlie in the school

Yesterday we did in hand pole work which evolved into loose schooling over jumps. What a lush boy he is moving exceedingly well and very cheeky. I made small uprights out of blocks with poles on top and did a mini set of raised trotting poles and while my back was turned moving poles and blocks he.........kept going and popping randomly over the uprights and then elegantly over the trot poles finally coming to a halt beside me checking out the next block. Wave of my hand and 'go on over there' and he trotted off and popped a jump.

This morning we did a bit of lunging just using the Pessoa bum strap on and adding the front straps at the end. His trot work was lovely and then whoo hoo I asked for canter and he did a proper canter. Did this on both reins better on one than the other unfortunately being a twit I can't remember which rein duh! Think the right was the weak one maybe probably.

New year New Goals

Looking back at this date a year ago I note two things 

I was nervous just riding Charlie in the school and I had been advised to leave hacking out until we had more consistency.

Well exactly a year on we find riding in the school a piece of cake. I had forgotten about the spins and naps until I read back over the year.

Hacking out is still an issue but reading back again I realise it isn't the issue it once was and now we just have to bolster up my confidence.

We had another mini hack with a friend on the 29th December and Charlie actually took over and led after the pony baulked big time at newly painted SLOW and 30 signs. We also had to turn around as he napped into us and turned back straight away.

We are still on Equifeasts Cool Calm and Collected and indications are that it is working as Charlie isn't as twitchy and frightening things are snorted at rather than run away from.

So hacking will only happen when the situation is right and to be honest currently the weather is gross.

Here is a photo from today