LJB Clinic Notes

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Location: Vermont and New Hampshire, United States

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  • Leslie Desmond
  • Harry Whitney
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  • The Horsey Therapist
  • Saturday, December 29, 2007

    Mark Rashid, Friday October 26, 2007 Thornton, NH

    "I don’t care if they get distracted. I care how much it takes to get them back."

    The more consistent you are, the easier it gets.

    If a horse is just running though a stop, turn him. If they stop with lightness and some brace, back up till you have softness.

    If she puts her head up with the halt, she’s disconnecting her hind quarters and her forequarters. She’s not using her hindquarters to stop.

    If she can’t stop out of a trot, we’ve got a problem.

    With softness she can hear you all the time. With lightness, she will hear you only when things are going well.

    Yielding to the bit is part of it. The other part is going to softness.

    We want to eliminate her making decisions, taking over. She’s used to that but we want to change that.

    Trot – halt:
    1-2, 1-2, 1-2 rhythm. Breathe out on 1, use reins on 2. Breathe out becomes cue for a change coming, like a half halt.

    Exhale on the exertion. Exhale can start as a cue/half halt, to be completed with the actual transition.

    The backing is not a punishment. It is a way to help her get soft. So, don’t back every time, only when needed to find softness.

    Horse will try different things as she’s gaining understanding. She’ll stop without brace then she’ll brace again. She’s trying to figure it out.

    Mark would like to get it 80% -- and that reflects about how much he can expect of himself regarding consistency.

    Get it so it’s working pretty well, then do something else – before they start searching for something else. In their mind, they say it must not be you wanted that because we’re still trying. Let her think about it – give her a break.

    New info – generally it is up to 6 hours before it is understood, linked to prior info known; about twice as long for horses. Then all the info is available.

    Horse has to not just understand it, but she has to figure out how to get her body to do it. [This sounds like me learning Aikido!] She has to reverse everything she’s done in her life and do it differently – engage underbody and let go of topline.

    Student of the horse versus student of technique. Developing understanding versus training.

    Rider T:

    Soft turn. If you want a soft turn, stablilize your hands. If a turn feels heavy, where does it come from? Horse leans, rider pulls; even if the horse gives, rider pulls and horse leans.

    Steady hands sets it up so she can get a release because rider won’t be pulling back when the horse gives.

    With young horse especially, focus on one thing at a time: forward, stop and back, turns, etc.

    If you are really concerned about forward, get forward. Then work on turns if you need to.

    Focus: develop a quiet mind. In order for horse to have quiet mind, human has to have quiet mind. Mind like still water.

    When our mind is quiet, we can see things for what they are. A worried horse is a worried horse, not a horse that is about to buck her off, just a worried horse.

    Not a worried horse, just a horse who doesn’t know what her job is. So we need to help her know her job.

    Mark’s 5 year plan: everything that comes his way he evaluates: is this something that is going to be important to me in five years? If not, let it go. It may come back in six months and need to be evaluated again but for now, it’s meaningless. Prioritize.

    First thought around horses: how can I help you understand what we’re going to do? NOT: how can I make you do it?

    This rider needs to give horse guidance when horse gets worried, not lock up and get lost.

    Have something in mind all the time when you’re doing something with a horse. Mark always keeps “softness” in mind.

    When horse gets in trouble, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end: troubled, directing horse, calm and resuming doing things.

    Find a way to get the horse’s mind back. Feel it when the horse is getting tight and direct it right away rather than wait 10,15, 20 steps. Feel the softness and notice when it starts to leave and bring it back.

    As a rider: if we don’t know what to do, our instinct kicks in. With horse or rider, when you get to the end of your chain of knowledge, instinct kicks in: freeze up and don’t know what to do.

    In martial arts, practice, practice, practice, train, practice, etc. – the only way to get better. It’s OK to make a mistake; the idea is DO SOMETHING.

    Inhale/exhale rhythm at canter: depends on horse and rider. With C and gray horse: 8 in, 9 out.

    Canter: horse’s exhale is with exertion, with outside hind, the “power foot”, for canter.

    Human’s exhale at same time for stop prep—exhale with horse’s power foot, then next step is stop.

    Be part of the stop, not on the stop.

    D and big black:

    The heel thing: open left heel to allow right hind to step to center line, or vice versa.

    Can also think about right hind landing under your left foot.

    Lateral at canter: float it left. Float it right. It’s not a push. Don’t use your leg for this, it’s not a push. Working on half pass or whatever it’s called.

    It creates a brace to use leg. Instead: barrel swings, want to float sideways, using the energy of the movement.

    D is riding “on the movement” and she needs to be part of the movement. Most riders create the movement then follow it. Instead, use the horse’s movement as your movement. You won’t know where the horse stops and you start. Become part of the movement. You’ll initiate the movement anyway. What D and Crissi were working on: connecting centers.

    A little dead zone is when she’s setting it up and waiting for it to happen. Everything we’re doing with this horse – we’re not teaching him something. It’s about us doing something the same way with him in a calm way.

    Look for the good the horse is offering and build on it.

    Technique is part of it, plus the intangible, the feel part of it.

    F with young horse:

    How foals learn: for approximately one year, they can do pretty much whatever they want in the herd. About a year old or when they are weaned (6 mo –1yr) the other members of the herd dictate that the babies become productive members of the herd, almost overnight.

    F’s young horse has not bridged the gap. At 6-9 months, horses are ready to turn decision making over to somebody else. Ground driving is about turning decision making over. This youngster (F’s) isn’t ready because he’s not done certain things prior to ground driving.

    Ground driving is an extension of other things. He needs to know how to respond when he is asked to do something. He’s looking for someone to follow. If we don’t lead, they won’t follow. They will lead.
    1. Needs boundaries.
    2. He can put himself back after he breeches the boundaries. Mark established boundary by swinging his arm out describing his circle of boundary. Hand went into horse’s head and nose moved away. Boundary is arm’s length. Horse’s anxiety level will start to drop once he understands the boundaries.
    3. If he gets distracted, he can come back. Horse had been asking F to give way and now Mark is asking him to do the same thing. With no boundaries, he’s just looking for someone to tell him where to be, not just “stop that”. Plus he moves himself away. If he can move himself backward then he has let go of the forward thought. Then Mark moves to see if the horse can come back mentally.

    “I don’t need his attention all the time but I need him to bring it back when I ask.”

    Important that when Mark asks him to give way and back up, the horse keeps backing up even after Mark stops, instead of barging forward as soon as Mark stops asking for back.

    This is the beginning of learning for this horse. Keep it simple. All that is needed is boundaries. Don’t add more things because then there will be lots he doesn’t understand. So keep it simple right now. Don’t overload him. Ground driving wouldn’t work because he can’t even give way right now.

    If he gets sticky with leading, take him back over himself -- not off to the side -- and he’ll start getting prepared by moving his feet, hinds and fronts ready to follow.

    Boundaries and following – that’s all for now.

    Instead of shaking rope, just start with stepping in to him, with this particular horse, best to respond to the human's body. If out somewhere without a lead rope, then in trouble if horse has only responded to rope and not to one’s presence.

    Start with presence and use rope or sound or whatever if you need to.

    It’s not about making him back up. It’s about helping him find the right thing.

    Energy – bringing up the energy without emotion.

    Boundaries are the key thing in a herd – the very first thing. Affection is the last thing in a herd.

    Being able to move another horse is really important for a horse to know. Teaching a horse to give way is helping him know how he fits into our herd.

    Buckskin in round pen:

    If he needs to spook, let’s see if he can spook smaller. If he has to run, we know he’ll feel better because he’s already found softness when he moves at the canter. So the distance of his bolting gets less and less -- we’ll help him deal with it.

    Started on Wednesday with helping the horse find breathing and softness while moving. Horse has history of bolting when spooked. So started with finding softness when moving fast, so when spooks come again, horse can find softness rather than keep worrying more and more with speed.

    Sunday, December 16, 2007

    Mark Rashid Wed, October 24, 2007 Thornton NH

    [I was auditing. Most of what is here are notes from listening to Mark. If I am confident I wrote his words down verbatim, they are in quotes, italics and bold.]

    Balance point: I bring 5, the horse brings 5 = balance.
    One horse started with 1 and rider brought 9 = not balanced.
    Amount of energy we bring to the situation. If she resists, she brings a lot of energy even if it’s braced. Our job is to tip the balance of that. Pressure in hands/reins (in a backing up situation) – the more energy she brings, the less we bring, still with direction and softness. The less energy she brings, the more energy we bring, still with direction and softness. It feels good when there is balance.

    Build confidence in a horse through consistency.

    Using reins: resistance without pulling. We have to train ourselves to be soft even when something is resisting us. [This is so important to me right now. I have pulled and pushed and been aware of this and working attentively to change this. Historically when I felt scared, I resort to pulling – not nice for the horse! I have been training myself to focus on my balance through my center and leave the reins alone when it gets to that point. Even more importantly, I’m learning is to respond to the first thought of the horse that takes us away from what I’m asking, and address getting his mind back with me right away, not waiting ‘for the magic to happen’ as Mark kept saying, but to make the magic happen. And sometimes, in my mind, the ‘magic’ is simply being together mentally, emotionally, and physically doing something together. ]

    If we explain it to her and she understands it, she’ll stop doing it. In order to explain it, you have to know what it feels like. [Mark’s demo on Friday evening helped me get a feel for what blending is, what it feels like to be soft when someone is resisting. Great foundation for me to experiment further with my horses, which I’ve been doing since the clinic. I do wish I had aikido lessons close enough to be feasible so I could further my kinesthetic understanding of the blending exercise. Update: I will start Aikido soon and I’m excited about this!]

    We want to keep the momentum going. Help her NOT act on her thought, in this case, not act on her thought to stop.

    Release for what they do and how they do it, how they feel -- soft when stopping, not just giving to pressure. Giving to pressure may be the start but it’s not all of it. We want her to go to softness. [Releasing for the quality of action and presence not just for what the feet are doing is something I have been doing, however I can only recognize softness to the degree I personally know it. I found a new level of softness resulting in the energetic opening guided by Mark’s awareness and sharing during my riding time. I will write more about this later in my clinic notes.]

    [I want to feel more confident regarding is my horse giving to pressure and light, or is my horse soft? I asked Mark about this during my rides. I don’t recall ever getting an answer, yes your horse is soft or no, your horse is light, not soft, but I sure did get a few indications of where my body was tight and energy blocked, and got help with images and things to think about that allowed me to release the held energy and find a whole new world of softness available to me, and hence able to start feeling how my horse moved and responded differently when I was no longer blocking energy in my body. My dear Rusty was just waiting for more openness in me. This is different from my mare, Kacee, at home who seems to be able to carry on with less interference from my personal blocks. On some level I know I am affecting her but it’s not so obvious and drastic as with Rusty who literally can’t stride with ease when I’m blocked in my shoulders or back, or for that matter, when I’m blocked in my mind evident by doubts and uncertainty or indecision. Kacee will move ahead carrying me despite this, although she gets pushy herself. So much to learn.]

    Lightness is on the outside of the horse, and will work when everything is familiar. Light horses are reactive, not necessarily responsive. If something out of the ordinary happens, all the lightness goes out the window.

    Lightness through training. Softness through understanding.

    Do it, repeat it, repeat it, repeat it until the horse has a light bulb go off: ‘oh that’s what you want’, then softness comes in.

    [Mark guided a rider to lift a rein when her horse was stuck – not backing up after the rider asked for that. Maybe with Rusty, I can try that, too, so I don’t leave hanging out thinking he’s supposed to stay there without moving or lowering his head or anything.]

    It’s about getting in the middle and blending with the horse.

    If we can think more about the horse and less about ourselves, the horse knows it. This is good.

    Rider brings calmness and focus on horse.

    Don’t release for what we don’t want.

    When we release at the wrong time, the horse will try harder/bigger brace the next time.

    Equine species has the quickest reaction time of all mammals on the earth.

    Rider T and her mare:

    Red flags regarding physical:
    Inability to pick up one lead or other
    Not being able to go up or down hills well
    Almost always lower back problems, short strided in hinds almost always comes from the hips.

    For every muscle you tighten, the horse has to tighten a corresponding muscle.

    You cannot fight softness. You can fight resistance.

    Breathe out with the exertion – the stop, the walk off, etc.

    Mechanics versus softness.

    We want to help.

    Collection: turn off the topline, engage the belly muscles.

    Example of false collection: arm flexed and extended with loose hand, then tighten one finger and do it, then tighten two fingers and do it, etc.

    She can’t put her head where you want it if the spot is a moving target (inconsistent rein contact).

    Pitching the reins is like hanging up the phone. Better to have the lines open so you can have a conversation.

    Rider D and her big gelding:

    Stay engaged. She starts with the horse then starts to brace in the hand and it grows and he braces.

    Circles of energy are under rider – and goes out in front, movement creates energy. Think of one big circle as a tank track or like a hamster on a wheel. The circle creates movement and maintains momentum. Half halts break momentum.

    Breathe out and think about breath going where you want your horse to go.

    Accuracy we can work on. A brace is something we can replace – replace with softness.

    You create the rhythm and let the horse find it. Find the rhythm in yourself. Not: stand around and wait for the magic to happen. We are not going to wait. We are going to create it.

    “Ride like you are happy to be here.”

    Think of the best day of your life, think about it and toss it out in front of you and see what happens.

    Animation! He’ll chase it. Bring the joy back into the work!

    Understanding the aids, not acceptance of the aids.

    After lunch:

    Not concerned about how much the horse looks around, but how easy it is to get her back.

    Softer sound of feet on ground – want it and notice when it happens. The horse will be using less muscle with each footfall. How do you ride so the sound is softer? Change of muscle use in rider affects change of muscle use in horse.

    Rider F:

    Work on forward, teaching him to move off her leg. Don’t punish the thing you want him to like. You don’t want a lot of time to pass between time her leg is on and time he moves. The lag time gets us in trouble, lag time between leg on and tap leg with crop or whatever you choose for back up.

    Make sure you’re getting the walk you want. We prefer we don’t have to hit the horse with the crop. As your legs start to come on, if you don’t feel him getting ready to move, you can start to use the stick.

    Balance point of energy – not pressure but energy!

    An atemi – breaks the focus. In martial arts it distracts the opponent. A sudden move or sound.

    Mark’s stop when leading: when he turns around he wants the horse to set his next foot and his next foot can stop next to or behind the stopping foot. Boundary – at arm’s length.

    “The quieter we are, the more he’ll listen.”

    Worried buckskin:

    Need to help him find some success.

    1) Start with breathing – let’s get him breathing. At canter, he’ll be exhaling with each hind foot thrust (and inhaling) and I’ll help you come down to slower gait once you find your natural breathing rhythm.
    2) Softening in canter then bring him down.

    This horse wants to go, we can help him by letting him go, breathe, soften, and bring him down… Get to the place where you do feel good then we’ll bring you down.

    Don’t pet him when he’s nervous and in a worried state of mind. Don’t reward him for that state of mind. He needs to reach a little more inside himself before we pet him and tell him he’s doing ok.

    The last thing I’d do is be fixing things with this horse. We need to find ways to tell him he’s doing things right, not a horse to tell he’s doing something wrong.

    He has softened at canter, trot, walk, but is still tight at the halt.

    Release him for breathing and softening so he knows what he’s successful at.

    Mark has in his mind: Go ahead and do what you have to do, and the release comes when you’re breathing and softening.

    Mark went into RP with ‘go ahead and do what you have to do’ and ‘give a little more’.

    One of the keys he looks for: how is eye blinking. Slower is softer and more thoughtful. Also inside ear.