Well my darling boy is doing well.
One side effect of surgery was he began to be NEUROTIC...again...
Scritching his teeth, biting, walking over me, panicking. Ugh! Didn't I deal with this once?? Well, here's the lemons so how about some lemonade. What else could I do? I needed to have my horse's brain back.
When I first got Trevor, he was rude, rude, rude, and super stressed. I worked long and steadfast to address those issues. He came out of surgery in great shape, but fell right back into the rude and stressed behavior.
So that has been out focus. It is going well. He's remembering that his job is to be a gentlemen when ever he has to deal with me. I haven't started riding him...yet. I'm in no hurry. I want him to be fit and focused when we reintroduce the riding aspect to his brain. It's a good brain.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Breezy's progress
So, last I left the Breezy update, she was improving within her shoulders, and hence, in her hindquarters.
Due to Trevor's rehab status (handwalking with light turnout) my lessons with Jackie Browning have been on Breezy. That's a good thing!
One of Breezy's compensation behaviors while being ridden is to gape her mouth and carry her head behind the bit. Just another evasion, avoidance, unwillingness, or what have you, to engaging that hindend.
With mouth-gaping, the head becomes the horses's focus instead of the rest of the body. Not only does the jaw, poll, and neck become inflexible, the back, ribcage, and hindend also become too ridgid. Not to mention it is really ugly.
Jackie suggested shutting her mouth with a figure-eight caveson.
A figure-eight wraps around the jaw of the horse with the upper strap sitting in front of the facial crest and the lower strap sitting in front of the bit like a dropped noseband. The pieces cross on top of the nose and create the shape of a figure-eight. Hence, the name. You can adjust the tightness of each piece since both straps have buckles. It also allows for greater flexibility and is less restrictive then a flash noseband.
It took a few minutes, but Breezy relaxed into her new mode of operation quite well. However, she still futzed and fidgeted if she wasn't moving. So, after a short ride, I decided that she just needed to SHUT UP! for real and stand quietly with me hanging out on her back.
**I want to note, that even though Breezy is being ridden, she is still getting her massage and lunging session to help her stay supple and relaxed. I bodywork the areas on her that need addressing - a lot in the groin/hindquarters - and wait for the relax and chew. Also, I wait for the chews in each gait before I move on to the next (starting with walk). She is learning to stretch down and forward in her gaits. The mobility in her back gets better and better as she moves on the lunge line. There is movement over the topline (ribcage, back, loin, and pelvis) where before there was NONE!**
I had her stand in the arena and she was NOT! happy with my decision. I started with my reins in a "riding" position and as she relaxed, I gave her more and more rein. That, was something that took awhile. She was a COW and threatened to rear or run me into the wall when all I wanted her to do was stand. I did not make a big issue of these behaviors, but I did tell her it was not OK!! We ended up at the opposite end of the arena compared to where we started. That was OK.
Breezy finally decided to stand still. Then an AMAZING thing happened. I felt her lumbar/sacral area self-adjust. There were three adjustments - clunk, clunk, clunk. The adjustment was soft, no loud cracking or painful reactions. It just went back into place. Immediately after the adjustment, her head dropped, she chewed and sighed with relief. It. was. BEAUTIFUL.
Without addressing her mouth-gaping issue, the adjustment in her spine would not have happened. Breezy needed to pay attention to that problem area to help "fix" it. Now, I'm not saying that if your horse doesn't come through and use his/her body correctly that you should clamp his/her mouth shut and the figure-eight is the end-all and be all of troubleshooting. I'm saying this is what worked for Breezy.
BUT!!!! Yet again, we've modified her bridle. Our rides were going well, she was relaxed and moving off my legs, and still receptive to her bodywork. Then she was a COW. Don't know why, she just was. Breezy regressed back into her brutish behaviors and we had a lousy ride. Even with two days of relaxing lunging and bodywork, our next ride was much the same. We changed her bit out from a soft loose ring to a thin loose ring. Pick youself up and use it!!! The figure-eight began the process of her starting to carry her herself and use her hindend and now the thinner bit will help it along.
It is a process.
Particulary with horses that have "baggage" from former injury or poor training/handling techniques or what ever they bring to the arena. You move forward and then you plateau. As you can work through it, the plateau begans to rise again. Look at options, see and feel what the horse is telling you, assess it, and make a plan.
Breezy and I had a fabulous ride the other day. She did every thing without complaint. The ride was short & sweet. So she got to play. A good reward for a good job.
Due to Trevor's rehab status (handwalking with light turnout) my lessons with Jackie Browning have been on Breezy. That's a good thing!
One of Breezy's compensation behaviors while being ridden is to gape her mouth and carry her head behind the bit. Just another evasion, avoidance, unwillingness, or what have you, to engaging that hindend.
With mouth-gaping, the head becomes the horses's focus instead of the rest of the body. Not only does the jaw, poll, and neck become inflexible, the back, ribcage, and hindend also become too ridgid. Not to mention it is really ugly.
Jackie suggested shutting her mouth with a figure-eight caveson.
A figure-eight wraps around the jaw of the horse with the upper strap sitting in front of the facial crest and the lower strap sitting in front of the bit like a dropped noseband. The pieces cross on top of the nose and create the shape of a figure-eight. Hence, the name. You can adjust the tightness of each piece since both straps have buckles. It also allows for greater flexibility and is less restrictive then a flash noseband.
It took a few minutes, but Breezy relaxed into her new mode of operation quite well. However, she still futzed and fidgeted if she wasn't moving. So, after a short ride, I decided that she just needed to SHUT UP! for real and stand quietly with me hanging out on her back.
**I want to note, that even though Breezy is being ridden, she is still getting her massage and lunging session to help her stay supple and relaxed. I bodywork the areas on her that need addressing - a lot in the groin/hindquarters - and wait for the relax and chew. Also, I wait for the chews in each gait before I move on to the next (starting with walk). She is learning to stretch down and forward in her gaits. The mobility in her back gets better and better as she moves on the lunge line. There is movement over the topline (ribcage, back, loin, and pelvis) where before there was NONE!**
I had her stand in the arena and she was NOT! happy with my decision. I started with my reins in a "riding" position and as she relaxed, I gave her more and more rein. That, was something that took awhile. She was a COW and threatened to rear or run me into the wall when all I wanted her to do was stand. I did not make a big issue of these behaviors, but I did tell her it was not OK!! We ended up at the opposite end of the arena compared to where we started. That was OK.
Breezy finally decided to stand still. Then an AMAZING thing happened. I felt her lumbar/sacral area self-adjust. There were three adjustments - clunk, clunk, clunk. The adjustment was soft, no loud cracking or painful reactions. It just went back into place. Immediately after the adjustment, her head dropped, she chewed and sighed with relief. It. was. BEAUTIFUL.
Without addressing her mouth-gaping issue, the adjustment in her spine would not have happened. Breezy needed to pay attention to that problem area to help "fix" it. Now, I'm not saying that if your horse doesn't come through and use his/her body correctly that you should clamp his/her mouth shut and the figure-eight is the end-all and be all of troubleshooting. I'm saying this is what worked for Breezy.
BUT!!!! Yet again, we've modified her bridle. Our rides were going well, she was relaxed and moving off my legs, and still receptive to her bodywork. Then she was a COW. Don't know why, she just was. Breezy regressed back into her brutish behaviors and we had a lousy ride. Even with two days of relaxing lunging and bodywork, our next ride was much the same. We changed her bit out from a soft loose ring to a thin loose ring. Pick youself up and use it!!! The figure-eight began the process of her starting to carry her herself and use her hindend and now the thinner bit will help it along.
It is a process.
Particulary with horses that have "baggage" from former injury or poor training/handling techniques or what ever they bring to the arena. You move forward and then you plateau. As you can work through it, the plateau begans to rise again. Look at options, see and feel what the horse is telling you, assess it, and make a plan.
Breezy and I had a fabulous ride the other day. She did every thing without complaint. The ride was short & sweet. So she got to play. A good reward for a good job.
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