This is an older blog about playing with Kerryn's LBE while I was living in Australia ... Everyone has their TOUGHEST Horsenality, and LBE's are definitely mine ;). Hope you Enjoy!
PHEW! Amazing and
challenging ride on Sparky, Kerryn's LBE gelding today; so I thought I would
write a little note about my challenges and successes and musings with him ;)
First of all, LBE's are by
FAR my hardest horsenality to play with... give me consistency, and Right brain
horses ALL DAY, but try and figure out how to make it a game... and well, that
is MUCH more challenging.
So to start our session
today, our "catch" was AMAZING... Best it has EVER been with Sparky
and I. He saw me and hooked on right as I came out of the garage with his
halter, and nickered and began heading for the gate, I was SO happy I had a
treat to reward him for that sort of behavior too! Then we headed over and gave
him a long brush... first time we really had good itchy spots, too and a lot of
participation and relaxation during brushing which was awesome. Also a great
standstill... which can be a bit challenging for Sparky at times; and for me...
I'm great with horses that don't stand because they are scared... or don't
stand because they want to be disrespectful... but horses who don't stand
because they really think there are better games to play? PHEW! That's more
challenging for me! You have to be much more delicate than with an LBI, so you
keep encouraging their participation, but they aren't really scared either
so... yeah... challenging!
So then Sparky and I were
on to saddling... Starting with getting relaxation in throwing the pad up onto
his back, because he really seems to go head high, and be bracy with me during
this point. I kept going with repition... then realized he was starting to
think "this is a great game"... UGH!! lol. So I began throwing it on,
asking him to drop his head, pulling it off... that was MUCH more fun for both
of us, and in two second we had a lick and a blow out and a well placed pad ;)
Then we went on to
saddling... Stepped in front of him, let him sniff me, went to move around to
his right side, HUGE block with his nose... so I retreated backwards, stopped
let him sniff me, went to move to his right side and again HUGE block with his
nose... third time... yep same thing. Ok three times is a pattern, is this
unconfidence or is he playing a game again? ARGH? I dunno! Ok... whats a strategy
in the middle? So, I backed up, stopped, let him sniff, me then put my arm out
and asked him to yield his nose BEFORE I stepped over there then retreated
again (YES, all this time, I AM still carrying the saddle on my hip, in case
anyone was wondering). Ok, that seemed a little bit better? So perhaps take it
to the next step? This time I retreated, stopped, stepped into his space and
asked his nose, then neck, then feet all to yield to place me in saddling
position, then I retreated immediately, YAY... lick and chew;) Ok so perhaps
now I'm playing the game with him! On the right track. Retreated again, stepped
in, asked for a full yield, he did, put me into position, and licked again.
Third time, stepped into positoon and he yielded himself. Ok... so if this was
a RB horse, I would retreat again here, but I think He is trying to play a game
with me... three swings with the saddle, confidence and relaxation from
him, so straight on it goes. (And might I say... one of my better saddlings,
would have passed Pat's Fence fence EASILY). His girthing was beautifully, softly
yielded for me to have the other side, and stood like a rock.
I moved him around a bit,
and he softened and blew out almost immediately ;) He was also the softest he
has ever been in yielding his ribs, hind end, change direction, shoulder
excercise so that was really cool. I decided to go ahead and take that all as
check marks and mount up!
From here we headed for the
gate... which has been a bit of a challenge for us to get participation in
opening it. I thought about really being clear in asking him to respond to my
leg, then backing it up with the rein... as Pat says, "expect they will
respond, but be prepared to correct, not more one than the other."
Well with Sparky I was definitely erring on the "be prepared to
correct" side and I think this was REALLY aggrivating his LBE playful
side. So I decided that would be my main focus for the ride ;)
So basically as we made our
way to the gate I REALLY focused on eyes, belleybutton, leg, THEN rein. I
really had to work at this because I noticed how quickly I wanted to correct
him the moment I felt him shift his weight or think in the wrong direction. I
think this is from so much time with my mare... who if I give her time to think
or shift her weight in a direction other than what Im thinking gets TOTALLY
lost and right brain... so with her I almost err on the side of being prepared
to correct cause that support from her leader keeps her confidence.
With Sparky, a LBE, he was
almost testing me I felt! He would LEEEEAAAAAANNNN forward when I asked him
just for sideways, but he wouldn't actually move a foot... then if I just
persisted with my phase 1 of leg pressure he would eventually sidepass nicely
to the gait and we would rest. Same thing happened when I asked for a back
up... he would lean out as if he was going to sidepass away from the gate... if
I just stuck with him, respecting the fact that he wasn't being dis-obedient
... (YET!...) then he would respect that and back up softly and we would rest.
But the time we completed all the maneuvers required to open the gate he was
compeltely acting like a partner because I had proved to him that I wasn't
going to correct him BEFORE he made a mistake!
He was being a classic
kid... you say "don't touch the cake" and they HOVER their hand above
it, getting as close as they can without touching it... if you react to this...
YOU weren't playing the game! if you leave it alone... soon enough they will
walk away and do something different ;)
Sparky and I had a FABULOUS
ride. He was the most solidly LBE he has been with hardly any RBE moments out
on the trail. He was happy and forward moving, and we even had a few little
exuberant bucks, haha! The whole ride I was always thinking about giving him a
long time at phase 1... and really waiting to correct him til he ACTUALLY made
the choice to do something different! He started really engaging in following
my seat and suggestion, and had the clearest understanding of his fundamentals
he has had with me yet! We were even able to demonstrate leg-yielding across
the trail for Joan and Chevy without touching the reins ;)
