The clips are very short and are in slow motion - see if you can spot where he starts to think about turning in - it's usually a number of strides before he actually does it. Then, see if you can spot the signs that the thought is forming - what's he doing, precisely? (And, as a bonus feature, at the end there's a clip of the work we've been doing for him to back out of my space simply as a result of my moving into his space - he gets a nice face rub for doing so well.) I'd recommend double-clicking on the video so you can view it in full screen - even in slow motion the details pass by pretty quickly.
And in the couple of cases where I get ahead of the action and interrupt the thought, I was interested to see that it took very little in terms of action on my part - whereas once the action started, I had to get much bigger. Hmm . . . . This also makes the point that if we can "lead" our horses with our thoughts by giving them active direction - which doesn't have to be big - they're less likely to form thoughts that are out of sync with what we want them to do but are more likely to have shared thoughts with us as we do the work together. Whereas if we leave gaps in our direction, they're going to be forming their own thoughts . . .
I'll be interested in what you see.
Definitely try staying a bit more behind him, even if that puts you not in the true center of the circle.
ReplyDeleteThere is an exercise called leading from behind, that may help and I use it as precursor to being ground driven.
Simply walk further and further behind the horse and let him go in front. I generaly play around with positions, leading in front, slipping to behind, then back to front etc...
Here is an old blog post with some photos:
http://horseideology.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/leading-from-behind/
With his excitable nature though it make take longer for him to accept that idea :)
horseideology - thanks, very good ideas!
ReplyDeleteHis head turns in first when he's thinking of reversing. The inside shoulder drops to the outside as well. Focusing your attention to his shoulder and using your body language to keep it out will help.
ReplyDeleteThink of lungeing as forming a triangle with you at the point and Drift as the base. Your leading hand dictates the direction the base should travel and your driving aids (Line, whip) push the base forward on the line you dictate. The idea is to keep him "straight" on the circle with his whole body.
I really do like how you analyze your work and look for all the small details that make so much difference in the larger picture. Well done.
That is exactly one of the problems I'm having with my horse... Catch the problem ahead of time - little effort.... catch it after - lots of effort and big problems.
ReplyDelete*sigh* They don't make it easy on us!
I really like how you are analyzing the lungeing video. Fun and educational. I admire what you are doing.
ReplyDeleteSince a lot of comments have already addressed his front end, I am going to mention the hind end. The hind end slows before the front end, whether it be to take a deeper step in preparation for the turn/hop or taking a smaller step as the beginning of a balk.
Very insightful post. I'm oftern told to correct before the behaviour is visible, but it's hard to feel it ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that he keeps wanting to come in on you in that particular place in the circle (even though he's also parallel to you on the opposite side of the circle). It might be interesting to do some long-line (driving) work with him--where you ask him to walk in straight lines in front of you rather than a circle around.
ReplyDeleteWhen I bring mine in from the pasture sometimes we practice driving from behind. Nobody's on a rope and I just walk behind them and change my position to get them to move where I want them to. This can be very challenging, since you have to anticipate what they're going to do in order to "catch" it in time--otherwise you lose critical positioning and the energy evaporates.
I see two things. Your shoulders are asking him in. It appears that you are tilting slightly inward which I've found is an invitation to turn or come in. I think of my shoulder pointing in the direction I want him to go and if I adjust that or my hips then it's an invitation inside the circle or a precursor to a turn.
ReplyDeleteIt might just be the video, but you might self check.
The other thing is that when you wave the rope you are pushing his hip out which also encourages him to turn in. So you may accidentally be reinforcing that miscue. Just two cents from a round pen geek.
Breathe - very good perceptions on your part - I need to focus on moving his shoulder out and also on postioning myself closer to his hindquarters so the driving aids are more clear to him.
ReplyDeleteNo round pen, alas . . .