Silly Human.

Finally some time to post! I'm literally sitting in bed on my laptop, with a drink on my nightstand, and it feels amazing. I've been running around trying to have a social life AND get my horses in shape (silly me!). And night work with my coworker away on disability. And errands. And goats.

So I've been wanting to do a post on horses anticipating, as was asked and I think it's a good topic. There are a couple of reasons why a horse will anticipate, and the first reason that must be ruled out is the rider.

A lot of riders unconsciously do what is easiest--for the horse and for themselves. Or they are creatures of habit, and consistently pick up the canter in the corner, or sit the trot for a few beats before cantering, or always shorten their reins before picking up a trot from the walk. Horses are really, really good at picking up what happens, before something happens. So while you may think your horse is being a butthead when you sit the trot and he canters, he just think he's helping you. With that in mind, punishment is never the correct answer for a horse who anticipates.

The first step is to find when your horse anticipates. Is it general, and he tries to anticipate everything? Is it more focused, and he anticipates the canter from the trot? Does he get hot in corners? When you pinpoint your horse's actions, then think about how you ask for these cues--are you doing something that is predictable? Changing this may be all that is needed.

Once you rule out yourself, you can then tell yourself, 'my horse will no longer anticipate. He will do what I say, WHEN I say it.' This helps some riders that allow this kind of behavior. They are plodding along at the walk, they shorten the reins, and the horse trots off. 'Wonderful!' they think. 'I was going to ask him to do that anyway."

That mentality has to go out the window for horses to learn to wait. You must never accept a reaction that you did not ask for because it rewards the horse for assuming.

Most of the time, horses that anticipate are a little hot, or have a bit of an attitude. Part of their teaching is to be relaxed--and the second part of their teaching is to accept your guidance. They are a partner in your riding, and they can tell you when things hurt and when they can not do what you ask--but they can not make decisions themselves. And with some horses, you have to teach them how to do this.

Clyde would always anticipate a canter departure. From any part of the arena, in any situation, any leg aid. Leg yielding and single leg aids were out of the question, because all of those things also meant 'canter'. He wouldn't run away--he would just canter.

I compare teaching a horse to calm down and listen, to loading a horse in the trailer one foot at a time. When you have a horse that loads and you walk him up into the trailer and try to get one foot on, what usually happens is you get a loaded horse. He knows what happens when he gets to the trailer--he gets on. So your requests for 'one hoof only' are usually ignored. (silly human). So then you stop him right in front, and ask--ever so softly--for that one hoof, and even this takes several times. Many horses just 'auto load'. Some horses 'auto-ride'. So just like the trailering horse, you have to break the steps into tiny pieces to get him to listen.

Some horses get frustrated when this happens. THEY KNOW how to get on the trailer (or canter). So would you PLEASE stop getting in the way?

This is where the 'leave it and relax' part comes in to the training. Don't continue with the 'fixing' until the horse is relaxed and waiting again.

I broke Clyde's specific anticipation into a leg-yielding drill. I taught him to leg yield at the walk, which was No Big Deal. Then we moved to the trot. I asked him to leg yield, felt him get ready for the canter, and circled him somewhat tight (tight enough to prevent a smooth canter departure, but big enough to allow him to keep trotting). I kept the leg on until he thought about moving away from it. I released the leg, praised, and then let him relax--at the trot.

Usually after a 'near-canter', Clyde was even MORE ready for the canter. Fast trot, a breath away from a canter. So instead of trying the exercise again, I just hacked him around at the trot, until he calmed down. I asked for gentle bends and a long neck, and I waited until the horse underneath me said, 'um... alright. What now?'

I try to keep the horse who is anticipating from doing what he thinks is right. Sometimes this requires a lot of riding skill--if you can feel a horse departing on the wrong lead, you can stop him before he takes a stride or two. A lot of this work is 'finesse' work. If your horse anticipates trot transitions from a walk, walk him until he's calm. Get ready to ask for a trot... and then don't do it. I do a lot of 'getting ready to ask for something'--and then not doing it. You can work on an extended walk, with a lot of transitions within the walk. And a lot of down time, a lot of relaxed time. Stop often, and don't let the horse walk off when it thinks it's been standing long enough.

Almost all of my work is spent on doing what my horse doesn't want/or think to do. If he wants to run to the gate, we walk. If he wants to veer left, we go right. If he wants to canter, we stay at a trot. If he offers a trot from a walk, we are immediately stopping, thinking about it, and then walking again. And what I usually get from this is a horse that says, 'yes ma'am?'

My horses are always praised in their work. I think this makes a big difference in their attitude towards it--my horses don't rush for the gates, look longingly at the barn, or run from me in the pasture (actually, they run TO me). The harder it was for them to do something mentally, the more praise they get, and maybe a walk on the buckle. They love work. And they work hard.

When you ask for a transition when the horse is calm, your aids are clear and concise, you'll almost always get the right answer. A lot of times when I am doing this work on hot horses, when I let them walk and 'think about it', they'll chew softly on the bit. These horses are thinking! Quite often these kinds of horses love their work more after they calm down and listen--they no longer have to make decisions, no longer have to lead, no longer are tense in their work. How comfortable is a job where you are relaxed and someone guides you? That's all that the horse is asking for. ;)


--------------------------------------------------------


In home news, Odie has been fantastic. I've been ground driving him, and on his third day of being introduced to everything I took him out of the round pen and into our open pasture. He did absolutely wonderful! This horse is ready to work--he loves it. :) I have a more pictures at his blog here, but here's one for those that don't visit:

His second day being ground driven

He's such a pleasure to work with. :) I went to get him out of the pasture the other day with my very city, very non-horsey SO. (Do note I had to beg to get said-SO into the pasture with me in the first place. 'They won't bite me?' 'Are you sure they won't run me over?'). Odie walked right up to him for a snuggle... SO was admittedly a little nervous, especially with my talk of 'stallions can be a handful'. He pushed him on his nose and Odie backed up for him... and then waited for his snuggle. It always amazes me how soft and respectful he is of people that have NO CLUE on how to handle him (like my father!). Amateur-friendly indeed!

Key has been getting back into shape after his little mishap, and with a Blocker Tie Ring he's been good so far. He's still a little nervous, because he won't eat hay out of the hay bag I leave there for him, so I'll probably have a few tying sessions where he'll be tied there for a few hours. With water and hay. ;) Nothing a bit of time can't solve.

Everyone is looking good here :) and I have tentative plans for Key's first show in July! :)