I watched the Clinton Anderson fundamentals DVD (the first 2) that covered philosophy and round-penning. I've also watched another DVD by Sean Patrick showing the same basic stuff. I was all fired up to work with my new mare today.
This is my first horse, and I'm a beginner at both riding and training, so please be gentle.
She is a 1/2 Breton Draft and 1/2 Arab, 11 years old and decently broke, although only in a halter/hackamore and not a bit/bridle. The person who owned her before me followed the Parelli method and so the horse has been exposed to natural horsemanship, although I don't know how much of it she's done. She does respond to backing up halter shaking and she can flex her neck to both sides really well. She also joins up as soon as I turn around.
I don't have a round pen, exactly, I have an oval riding ring. This was our first day working together, and she is VERY out of shape, just like me, ha ha. I don't think the prior owner has ridden her much in the last year.
She picked up the right lead in both directions, which was nice, and it didn't take much to get her moving and stay moving, although there was one point where she'd slow down to a trot as she ran past some big plastic blocks, but she'd pick up again as soon as she passed them. Even when she was totally pooped, she picked up the cantor with little effort on my part.
She has a very choppy canter. I think she's very stiff in addition to being out of shape cardio-wise.
Our problems:
She keeps turning heels towards me instead of eyes towards me when I try to change directions. The only time I could get an eyes-in turn was when I walked away and turned my back to her and she would start to join-up; then I would turn back around, point and move her off. I felt bad doing it this way, because after a few times of me chasing her off, she seemed reluctant to join up again.
It did not work at all to do what Clinton did in his video, to walk sideways and back while keeping eyes on her. Every single time I did this, she turned heels-in. She's so darn good at doing it this way, I'm starting to think this is how she was trained before I got her.
She loves the join-up part. As soon as I turn my back, she's all about getting to the middle and breathing on my back. I did the spiraling circles CA talks about and it worked like a charm. I was able to move her back feet sideways, doing that cross-over thing. But ****, I could not get her to turn eyes-in! Argh!
Specifically, I'd like to know:
1. How to get her to turn eyes in.
2. How to get her to join up without having to turn my back on her.
3. How to help her lengthen her stride.
Tips? Advice? Help?
I'm in the process of uploading a video to Youtube, but it's going to take hours, apparently. :?
This is my first horse, and I'm a beginner at both riding and training, so please be gentle.
She is a 1/2 Breton Draft and 1/2 Arab, 11 years old and decently broke, although only in a halter/hackamore and not a bit/bridle. The person who owned her before me followed the Parelli method and so the horse has been exposed to natural horsemanship, although I don't know how much of it she's done. She does respond to backing up halter shaking and she can flex her neck to both sides really well. She also joins up as soon as I turn around.
I don't have a round pen, exactly, I have an oval riding ring. This was our first day working together, and she is VERY out of shape, just like me, ha ha. I don't think the prior owner has ridden her much in the last year.
She picked up the right lead in both directions, which was nice, and it didn't take much to get her moving and stay moving, although there was one point where she'd slow down to a trot as she ran past some big plastic blocks, but she'd pick up again as soon as she passed them. Even when she was totally pooped, she picked up the cantor with little effort on my part.
She has a very choppy canter. I think she's very stiff in addition to being out of shape cardio-wise.
Our problems:
She keeps turning heels towards me instead of eyes towards me when I try to change directions. The only time I could get an eyes-in turn was when I walked away and turned my back to her and she would start to join-up; then I would turn back around, point and move her off. I felt bad doing it this way, because after a few times of me chasing her off, she seemed reluctant to join up again.
It did not work at all to do what Clinton did in his video, to walk sideways and back while keeping eyes on her. Every single time I did this, she turned heels-in. She's so darn good at doing it this way, I'm starting to think this is how she was trained before I got her.
She loves the join-up part. As soon as I turn my back, she's all about getting to the middle and breathing on my back. I did the spiraling circles CA talks about and it worked like a charm. I was able to move her back feet sideways, doing that cross-over thing. But ****, I could not get her to turn eyes-in! Argh!
Specifically, I'd like to know:
1. How to get her to turn eyes in.
2. How to get her to join up without having to turn my back on her.
3. How to help her lengthen her stride.
Tips? Advice? Help?
I'm in the process of uploading a video to Youtube, but it's going to take hours, apparently. :?