Totally lazy blog today. Managed to get a little vid of a quick session Faith and I did on the yard yesterday.
The first vid shows us having a little brush (Faith, not me).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAmw6sE8Zvg
The second is us doing a short bit of work on my own version of WWYLM. This is a warts and all vid, and it does show quite a few areas that need improving, particularly the two occasions where she cuts across me and doesn’t halt when asked. Also our rein backs are not very straight. However, we have only done this about four times now, so I also think progress is being made, particularly on the right rein, which is our rather dodgy and uncoordinated side!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWi2DfaYHiE
I am also quite pleased with the way that when she tries to swap sides, she will, nine times out of ten, respond to a hand signal to ask her to remain on the side that she is on. I will be putting voice cues in when we get a little better, ie, ‘whoa’,’ back’,’ walk on’, as this exercise is going to be the foundation I think of all the liberty work we do in the future, so I will eventually be working on increasing the distance between us. But that is all in the future, right now I want to get things absolutely spot on in the confined space of the yard, before venturing into the field or the school.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Spray that again?
Another lovely Autumn evening this evening, and a good opportunity to get Faith out onto the yard again. She has been taking advantage of all the mud to do her best hippopotamus impression, and her lovely Arab mane was heavily caked with the stuff.
Now I’m not someone who is a huge stickler for grooming, but I do like to see a well kept mane and tail. Arab hair is very fine, and prone to tangling easily, so although Faith doesn’t have the sort of mane and tail that would compare with Tommy’s huge masses of hair, it is still much more high maintenance. Consequently I buy a lot of mane and tail conditioner. I don’t actually remember what we used to do in the days before this uber product, but I think it involved a lot of patient teasing out the hair with our fingers. Nowadays, I splash gallons of this magic potion around, particularly in Faith’s direction.
Up until now I have always sprayed it onto a goat hair body brush, loading it heavily with conditioner, and then brushed it into Faith’s mane and tail. This is quite a good way of doing it, and surprisingly effective, if a little time consuming. So tonight I thought I would see if Faith would tolerate me spraying it directly on to her. This is also good for getting her used to things like that in case I ever have to apply wound spray or some such thing.
Well she was absolutely fine about having it on her tail, no problems at all. She was a little less keen about having it on her mane, but I managed to get three good sprays on, clicking and treating each one, before she decided enough was enough, and went off to discuss things with Tilly over the stable door. I am pleased with that though, it is a good start to build on, although no doubt when we are successful, Faith’s cosmetics bill will inevitably skyrocket!
We also did a bit more WWYLM, working predominantly on our dodgy side. I was a bit more on the ball this time, and we definitely did better. Faith seems to have really processed what we did a few nights ago, and although still not as good as the left rein, we are definitely making improvements, both of us!
Now I’m not someone who is a huge stickler for grooming, but I do like to see a well kept mane and tail. Arab hair is very fine, and prone to tangling easily, so although Faith doesn’t have the sort of mane and tail that would compare with Tommy’s huge masses of hair, it is still much more high maintenance. Consequently I buy a lot of mane and tail conditioner. I don’t actually remember what we used to do in the days before this uber product, but I think it involved a lot of patient teasing out the hair with our fingers. Nowadays, I splash gallons of this magic potion around, particularly in Faith’s direction.
Up until now I have always sprayed it onto a goat hair body brush, loading it heavily with conditioner, and then brushed it into Faith’s mane and tail. This is quite a good way of doing it, and surprisingly effective, if a little time consuming. So tonight I thought I would see if Faith would tolerate me spraying it directly on to her. This is also good for getting her used to things like that in case I ever have to apply wound spray or some such thing.
Well she was absolutely fine about having it on her tail, no problems at all. She was a little less keen about having it on her mane, but I managed to get three good sprays on, clicking and treating each one, before she decided enough was enough, and went off to discuss things with Tilly over the stable door. I am pleased with that though, it is a good start to build on, although no doubt when we are successful, Faith’s cosmetics bill will inevitably skyrocket!
We also did a bit more WWYLM, working predominantly on our dodgy side. I was a bit more on the ball this time, and we definitely did better. Faith seems to have really processed what we did a few nights ago, and although still not as good as the left rein, we are definitely making improvements, both of us!
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Hell Hath No Fury........
....like a filly scorned. At least, that is what poor Tommy is finding out at the moment.
Faith is very much in season. Fortunately she is still very sweet and well mannered as far as handling etc. are concerned, however the full force of her hormones is directed at Tommy. The poor chap has to put up with her body slamming him, kicking him in the chest when she presents herself and he fails to deliver, she sticks her bum in his face at every opportunity, and today even pinned him against a fence until he mounted her (in a very half hearted manner).
I have asked wiser people than me if this is normal, as all the mares I have owned, even in mixed herds like this, have always been considerably more ladylike in their conduct. Some of the replies I received via various forums have been hair raising to say the least, and it seems that Tommy is frankly getting off lightly! One particular breeder of Arabs recounted how one of their fillies would ‘make use’ of various stationary objects such as trees and fences to ‘satisfy their instincts’. I am beginning to realise what a sheltered life I have led!
However, I am very pleased to report that Faith’s rug is managing to withstand all these gymnastic activities, although I was rather dismayed to see her physically digging herself a rather large hole in the mud this morning, the better to plaster herself in clay. However, after Tommy had clambered on top of her, and rather ungracefully slid off again, I was most gratified to see that it had stayed in place, with no slippage whatsoever. I think I shall write to Horseware and suggest they introduce a new strapline to their adverts. I was thinking something along the lines of “Rhino Wug – withstands the antics of even the most persistent little strumpet!”
Faith is very much in season. Fortunately she is still very sweet and well mannered as far as handling etc. are concerned, however the full force of her hormones is directed at Tommy. The poor chap has to put up with her body slamming him, kicking him in the chest when she presents herself and he fails to deliver, she sticks her bum in his face at every opportunity, and today even pinned him against a fence until he mounted her (in a very half hearted manner).
I have asked wiser people than me if this is normal, as all the mares I have owned, even in mixed herds like this, have always been considerably more ladylike in their conduct. Some of the replies I received via various forums have been hair raising to say the least, and it seems that Tommy is frankly getting off lightly! One particular breeder of Arabs recounted how one of their fillies would ‘make use’ of various stationary objects such as trees and fences to ‘satisfy their instincts’. I am beginning to realise what a sheltered life I have led!
However, I am very pleased to report that Faith’s rug is managing to withstand all these gymnastic activities, although I was rather dismayed to see her physically digging herself a rather large hole in the mud this morning, the better to plaster herself in clay. However, after Tommy had clambered on top of her, and rather ungracefully slid off again, I was most gratified to see that it had stayed in place, with no slippage whatsoever. I think I shall write to Horseware and suggest they introduce a new strapline to their adverts. I was thinking something along the lines of “Rhino Wug – withstands the antics of even the most persistent little strumpet!”
Monday, 4 October 2010
Is this my best side?
It turned out to be a lovely evening this evening, despite a grim forecast, so Faith and I got to work on the yard again. I decided to work a little bit more on WWYLM, without the aid of cones this time, as they were proving to be irresistible to a certain filly who likes to pick them up and pass them to me. Also in the interests of encouraging patience, I thought I would mix it up a little with some Grown Ups are Talking.
We were doing really well on the left rein (with me standing on her near side). She would walk with me keeping her head by my shoulder, stop when I stopped, and also back up a few steps when I backed up too. Then I would just stand with my hands in a neutral position (easy now I have a convenient bump to rest them on), and ask her to stand quietly beside me for a few seconds, then click and treat. We built this up to about 20 seconds at a time, and all pawing, leg waving etc. behaviour was ignored, and she only got a click and a treat when standing quiet and relaxed. I thought this might be quite a nice build up into ground tying eventually as well.
Flushed with this success, we tried it on the other rein, going the opposite way. Well this is where it all fell apart. I am obviously doing something differently with my body language on this side, but I’m not sure what it is. Faith put on her snarky face, and although she walked with me well enough, but when we stopped, she would come past my side, and round in front of me to stand facing me, so I am obviously not effectively setting up a boundary with my body language very well on this side. I do have a habit of holding my left shoulder slightly higher than my right, so this might have something to do with it, but I must, must try and get these sessions videoed to try to spot exactly how I am different from one side to the other.
Anyway, we managed to end on a good note, and then I gave Faith a lovely groom, so we were both relaxed and happy!
We were doing really well on the left rein (with me standing on her near side). She would walk with me keeping her head by my shoulder, stop when I stopped, and also back up a few steps when I backed up too. Then I would just stand with my hands in a neutral position (easy now I have a convenient bump to rest them on), and ask her to stand quietly beside me for a few seconds, then click and treat. We built this up to about 20 seconds at a time, and all pawing, leg waving etc. behaviour was ignored, and she only got a click and a treat when standing quiet and relaxed. I thought this might be quite a nice build up into ground tying eventually as well.
Flushed with this success, we tried it on the other rein, going the opposite way. Well this is where it all fell apart. I am obviously doing something differently with my body language on this side, but I’m not sure what it is. Faith put on her snarky face, and although she walked with me well enough, but when we stopped, she would come past my side, and round in front of me to stand facing me, so I am obviously not effectively setting up a boundary with my body language very well on this side. I do have a habit of holding my left shoulder slightly higher than my right, so this might have something to do with it, but I must, must try and get these sessions videoed to try to spot exactly how I am different from one side to the other.
Anyway, we managed to end on a good note, and then I gave Faith a lovely groom, so we were both relaxed and happy!
Singing in the rain
This is going to be a quick one as it has been a long day, and I’m knackered. The weather was blustery and showery today, so I was pleased when Faith stood to have her rug on like an old pro’. She went out into the field calmly, and had a munch of hay. Then after about ten minutes she felt her rug was far too clean, so she lay down in a patch of mud and had a lovely roll. Then she got up, shook herself and carried on munching.
So she was totally calm about her first day out in a rug, which was brill. This evening she was a tiny bit twitchy when I took it off this evening, but absolutely no problems at all.
So here are some photos of Faith being totally not bothered by the whole rug experience...
So she was totally calm about her first day out in a rug, which was brill. This evening she was a tiny bit twitchy when I took it off this evening, but absolutely no problems at all.
So here are some photos of Faith being totally not bothered by the whole rug experience...
Saturday, 2 October 2010
The Autumn Collection
Building on last night’s success, I decided to try Faith with her outdoor rug on tonight. It had been a lovely warm dry day, so they had all had the sun on their backs all day which was nice. I did exactly what I did last night , and just started off as I normally would with rug desensitisation, and in no time I had the rug on Faith and all done up.
Again I hung around for a few minutes just to make sure all was well, and when it became apparent that Faith couldn’t be less bothered, I scooted off to do the poo picking.
When I came back, I let her out on to the yard to mooch about a bit while I took some piccies. Then it came to taking the rug off. Now just bearing the past existence of the Velcro monster in mind, I borrowed Tilly’s fly mask and just did a bit of my usual Velcro desensitisation stuff. When I felt that Faith was sufficiently relaxed, I just undid the Velcro at the front of the rug, and she didn’t bat an eyelid.
It is supposed to be horrible weather tomorrow, but what would really brighten my day would be if I could send Faith off into the field clad in her lovely snuggly rug. Keep fingers and toes crossed for us please!
Other than that, I will let the piccies speak for themselves!
Again I hung around for a few minutes just to make sure all was well, and when it became apparent that Faith couldn’t be less bothered, I scooted off to do the poo picking.
When I came back, I let her out on to the yard to mooch about a bit while I took some piccies. Then it came to taking the rug off. Now just bearing the past existence of the Velcro monster in mind, I borrowed Tilly’s fly mask and just did a bit of my usual Velcro desensitisation stuff. When I felt that Faith was sufficiently relaxed, I just undid the Velcro at the front of the rug, and she didn’t bat an eyelid.
It is supposed to be horrible weather tomorrow, but what would really brighten my day would be if I could send Faith off into the field clad in her lovely snuggly rug. Keep fingers and toes crossed for us please!
Other than that, I will let the piccies speak for themselves!
Friday, 1 October 2010
In Vogue
In Vogue
Well sort of, if wearing someone else’s clothes counts! It has been a filthy day here, and the neds have been out in the wind and rain all day. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to try Tilly’s best wicking rug on Faith, and hopefully get it on her properly, and keep it on her for a bit.
Well they all came in soaked, although Faith was still toasty warm under her new winter woollies. I took the rug into the stable, let her sniff it, then started working with her as I usually do with rug desensitisation. Well the long and the short of it was that she was happy to have it on, and happy to have it done up, and equally happy to have a jackpot and an extra slice of hay!
I pottered about the yard for five minutes or so, waiting to see if she would have a reaction, but none was forthcoming, so I took myself off to poopick the field, and when I came back she was still calmly munching her hay! So she had the rug on for about half an hour, then I took it off, and she was perfectly dry underneath. All in all a total non-event, just how we like it!
I did manage to get some piccies. The rug is Tilly’s so three inches longer and a bit bigger than Faith’s own rugs, but still not too bad a fit.
And finally, one of the top three most snoggable schnozzles in the world (the other two belonging to Tommy and Tilly of course!).
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