Me.. I'm the brave one. Funny is the smart one. :) And maybe I'm a little smart too.
I took Lyric to the Tik Maynard clinic today and was there pretty much all day, so.. no real riding for the other kids. But, after Mike and I ate and I got the ponies fed.... I opted to hop on Funny bareback and try my plan that Liz suggested. I had told her how I was frustrated because every time I have ridden Funny lately she's just been running and chomping and I've gotten sucked into hanging on the reins. I started doing trot to walk to trot transitions when she gets quick (Tik recommended that today to someone else, so yay me) but... I wanted a better way. And I know... slow my post... but it's hard. And she seems tense and unhappy. So... I knew I had holes and I was pretty sure I knew what that hole was (relationship to contact) and... perhaps missing the whole concept of bit aids??? So I was talking to Liz and she agreed... I had a big hole and had to go back. My thought process was to go back to our pillar work and get her to respond to rein pressure by giving in hand. And then progressing back to under saddle, combined with downward transitions, poles, and slowing my post. BUT...I wasn't sure that was going to be enough. Liz had a different idea. She suggested I be brave and put her in the rope halter. In her opinion, that taught her body aids/seat aids and to ride off my seat, vs my hands. It also makes it hard for me to be handsy. Which is a bad habit I need to break. And in her opinion, you could teach a half halt off the rope halter too. Then, once that was installed, I could go back to the bridle and transfer it over. I imagine I'll probably ride her in the bridle with the rope halter and just use the rope halter at first... but have the bit in her mouth so she can get used to it again without it being an aid.. then attach the reins once she's quiet in the mouth again. Anyways.. when I was at Liz's she had me hop on Party bareback to practice it. And man.. I am not good at it!
So... the rope halter is to be held in one hand, but you can use it as a direct rein. To turn right, I can add my right hand and use an opening rein/pull and release while adding my inside leg and looking the way I want her to go (But not too far ahead.. my eyeballs go off into hollyland and aren't very helpful). Pull, release, and turn. So we practiced that. But not with the reins choked up. On the buckle essentially. Kind of how I ride Dan on trails. I should try to ride like the rope halter is a western shank bit. So then stopping is a one rein stop. Not an emergency stop, but essentially the emergency stop without the intensity. I'm basically pulling one side but instead of just hauling it around and pulling her nose to the side... I'm going to use my outside rein (outside rein because that helps instill inside leg to outside rein and helps keep them straighter) and give three soft tugs with quick releases. The first two are more of like "hey, listen up, pay attention" and then the third one is a cue to stop and the fourth one I add in the body weight and think stop. I can pull harder if she doesn't stop but the goal is to have the lightest aids needed. The theory is then that they start to anticipate the 4th tug and start questioning what's happening next, so the first two tugs become the half halt. A "heads up" if you will. Then if it's followed by another tug or two (and I see tug but it will eventually be a finger squeeze) it means go down a gait or halt. If it's followed by a smooch and a hip swing and an outside leg moving back, it means canter. But... that's a half halt! It's teaching them to pay attention and focus on what's coming next, to rock back and balance, and to slow their roll. I practiced with Party and eventually got the hang of it. She's a kind and effective teacher!
So I practiced on Funny today. I originally intended to try it from the ground but she wasn't real interested in going forward and she's tall, so I just decided to get on. Plus, it was supposed to start storming and I wanted to make sure I was able to play a little bit first. I was in the roundpen because I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to bolt, and quite frankly... I was being lazy and didn't have a ton of time so the roundpen was close and easy. And she was good! She figured it out pretty quick. We even got brave and did some trotting. Only once did she pin her ears and think about bucking but she didn't. I honestly don't know if I just slid a certain way and hit a sore spot or if I pissed her off or if that's just her. But she didn't. And she was pretty darn good the rest of the time. I did have timothy pellets in my fanny pack so a few times she would stop and then reach around for her reward. Good girl, but.. we can't do this every time miss. She did get to the point where she was sensitive enough that I was able to only have to half halt twice softly and she would come down to a walk. Yay! But... I've got to be careful now to figure out how to make it mean half halt not change gait... but baby steps. It was a good first attempt at it and I feel much more confident trying it in the big arena too! We'll see if I have time tomorrow or if that will have to wait til Tuesday. I am going to take her to the Tik clinic tomorrow and do groundwork with her, so.. it may be too much in one day to then come home and hop on.
I'm so proud of her! And... she had fun too I think. We ended on a really good downward so I hopped off, gave her treats, rubbed her, and then took her halter off and let her be free. She followed me a good bit but... she knew I had cookies. :) But still. She hung out with me. yay!
Then the winds kicked up and off they went!
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