Lily's and Hannah's first time jumping

Last July, we rescued Lily. We paid $125 for her, despite the fact that her hooves looked like elf shoes and she had had no training. We knew that she had a great temperament, pretty coloring, and decent conformation that would help her to excel despite a rough start.

The first day we brought Lily home, she could hardly trot or canter. When the other ponies got running, she would try to go, then give up. For 6 months we filed Lily’s hooves diligently every 2 weeks. Now she is on a 4 week cycle. Initially, for a few days after each trim she would need time to figure out her balance again and could not be ridden. We could tell because she would hop into the trot when asked to go, or would sometimes take a couple canter strides. She would also have a hard time walking off straight when she had been at a halt, or would stop and swing her hind end separate from her front end when asked to turn. Gradually we built up Lily’s stamina and athleticism with tricks and games. She loves chasing the tiger!

10 months later, Lily’s hooves are balanced and she just had her first day of jumping with a rider! The rider, 9 year old Hannah, started with us last summer, about the same time we bought Lily. Yesterday was Hannah’s first time jumping, also! Lily was very careful to trot and simply step over the jumps at first. As soon as Hannah gained her confidence, Lily offered to jump round and tuck her knees, and we rewarded her with a click and treat. Hannah did a great job getting her hands forward to release, never popping Lily in the face. Hannah will need to learn to stay a little closer to the saddle and keep her heels down, but for her first day, she did awesome. Hannah is a very bold, focused rider who listens attentively and works hard. Lily is lucky to have Hannah as a little pony jockey to help her learn!

It’s so great to see the progress the kids can make with the help of the ponies, and the progress the ponies can make with the help of the kids. We are so lucky to be able to give the children the experience of teaching a pony and seeing the impact they can make on another’s life.

(Sorry about the grainy photo! All we had on hand was an iPhone )

PonyPros is not affiliated with 4H but we volunteered to give 3 presentations at 4H Idea Fair – Classical Dressage, Hunter/Jumpers, and Horse Agility & Trick Training. The kids were out of school Monday so we did a mini-camp where we worked on horse agility. We used a pattern that was designed by the International Horse Agility Club so the kids could prepare to enter online competitions. We did a lot of simulations for fun and to help the kids learn the course. Each of the less experienced girls was buddied with a more experienced girl who was there to help teach. That afternoon, we took a trail walk in the snow so the kids could work on migrating with the ponies. At the end, there is footage of the kids singing a song we made up. It’s a variation on “There were 5 in the bed and the little one said…” This is “There were 11 in the SHED and the little mare said…”

Q: I have a Welsh/Hackney who is too smart, very forward, and hard minded.  I have been using Clinton Anderson methods for groundwork.  I wish you were closer so you could take a crack at her.  She is trained under saddle but wants to kick when hooked to the cart.   I spent all summer on groundwork and dragging, and she still kicked, I think from fear.  At one point in the past, a trainer let a whiffletree drop on her hocks and I am afraid she is ruined.  Any suggestions for “desensitizing” her?

A: I will think about your driving pony mare who needs the desensitization… GiddyUpFlix is a great source for training dvd rentals. These are odd-ball solutions but it sounds like you’ve tried a lot of normal approaches already….

Teach Her to Sit (very desensitizing for the hind legs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_9cL9R0_U

Teach Body Targeting (a little bit of a strange vid, but explanation is good)

And now for general blog commentary…

It always surprises me what I come up with in response to training questions. You’re probably wondering why I picked sitting and body targeting to teach a pony not to kick. Well, basically I understood from the owner’s message that the mare is smart, forward, hard-minded, and fearful. Sitting involves backing up, which will help with her being too forward. She’ll also get to do it on her own terms if you’re doing it with clicker training, which will bypass the stubborn streak. The process of learning to sit will desensitize her lower legs in a totally new way. And because she is smart, she will probably like the idea of learning a trick, which should create a better bond between horse and owner.

Body targeting is a good tool for ponies who have ticklish skin. I was thinking she might be ticklish based on her breeding, because Hackney’s tend to be finer skinned. The other good thing about body targeting is it makes it so the pony has to think before responding to pressure because the question is – is it touch that says come towards or move away? Just the addition of the moment it takes the pony to decide can make the pony a lot less rough around the edges.

As part of the PonyPros program, we take our kids and ponies on regular adventures. For this adventure, we surprised the kids by taking them on a haul-out trail ride right after school! The middle school girls helped us get the ponies to the trail head and the elementary schoolers got to go from school right to the BLM. We walked and rode for about an hour. No water crossings because the canal was off, but we went up and down hills and the kids jumped a sizeable log that was about 2’6 in diameter. It was pretty cool to see how far they’ve come in one year. This time last year, trail riding in a big group was the dream! The kids and ponies learn with natural horsemanship, classical dressage, hunter/jumpers, trail riding, and clicker training, which we call EQxpressionism. We try to make every day as artistic, balanced, wholesome, and inspiring as possible. Being in nature with great friends and pony-people is the perfect set-up for us!

Colt starting should be low-stress and fun for everyone. PonyPros practices EQxpressionism, which is a combination of clicker training, natural horsemanship, trail riding, hunter/jumpers, and art of natural dressage. We start our colts bareback and use poles to help them see a purpose. In 3-5 rides they’re out on the trail for easy migration and in 10 rides they’re usually riding walk/trot over little crossrails.

Lilwen is being started by PonyPros in preparation for going to her new home in Hawaii in February 2011. Lilwen was bred by Evans Welsh in Joseph, Oregon.

Today Les and I took Emma, Katelynn, and Morgan on a long trail ride at Tumalo Reservoir. We started and finished with a deep water crossing – halfway up little BlueMan’s back! And we got to picnic half way. The ponies munched on bunch grass and tried to convince us that tortilla chips and oranges were really delicious and acceptable pony food. We did a little trotting and a little jumping, one steep hill down and one steep hill up. No one fell off, though two ponies did lay down with riders when they spotted some particularly nice sand. Oh ponies… Always good for a laugh

All 3 girls are age 13. Emma has been in horses for about 8 months. Morgan and Katelynn have been in horses for about 2 years but have only been riding for 6 months.

Emma rode Sam. This was Sam’s 3rd ever haul out trail ride and first one with a youth rider. He surprised us by being very calm, and almost poky! Sam is Kali’s trick pony and is usually pretty up. Kali recently paired Emma with Sam so Emma would put her creative, athletic energy to good use instead of daydreaming and cowboying

Katelynn rode QuickDraw. This was Q’s second ever haul out trail ride and first one with a youth. It is a miracle that Q is now feeling better. He has severe back problems and and was unrideable for the last year. It is thanks to Katelynn’s work and Les’ trimming that Q was able to come on this trip. He kepts us all entertained with ridiculous shenanigans revolving around his trying to keep his girlfriends, Ilo and Koa, away from Sam. He is a big goof.

Morgan rode BlueMan. This was Blue’s first ever haul-out trail ride and his 5th trail ride total! Blue was a superstar. He did well just about anywhere in the group, but took the lead when we were trotting. He has that Welsh cart trot where he can really move. Nice to get out and give him somewhere to go!

Emma said this adventure was more fun than spotlighting at the Parelli tour stop. Katelynn and Morgan said it was close, but maybe not quite as good. We’re all in agreement – it was fun!

Kali’s Response to the Question: We often hear talk about making animals respect our space. But then most people don’t think twice about invading an animal’s space. How does it affect a horse when a person pushes into the horse’s personal space?

When a person pushes into a horse’s space, that behavior has an emotional impact on the horse. It can cause him to feel defensive or safe, unstable or grounded, or to experience any number of emotions. Therefore, we must make a decision about what change we are trying to affect and approach the space carrying that feeling. Why must he “stay out of our space”? Often times, it’s because we are living in times of ease, rather than activity, or because we are living in times of observation versus reaction. Before you ask your horse to change, you must determine the emotional pattern you wish to cultivate

Is this what you mean by EQxpressionism?

In 2009 I coined the term EQxpressionism (“equestrian expressionism”) for the type of training I do. EQxpressionism is about developing two-way communication with the horse through facial expressions in order to practice horsemanship as artistic expression. Our modality has the added benefit of creating greater self-awareness, because it allows us to learn about the dynamic relationship between gestures and internal climate. EQxpressionsim is the combination of natural horsemanship and clicker training. Rather than being based in overt body language and the patterns of wild horses, it’s based on facial expressions and…….Read more at Examiner.com

Today was all about teaching the ponies manners when being led on a walk. Most of the horses and riders  had some troubles when we first started, especially me. I was working with a pony named Jack. He was a more dominate  LBE with  RBI tendencies. His main problem was he did not know that I had a space bubble too. No matter how much I backed him, he was still coming right back up to me and trying to walk in front of me. Near the end of the first walk, Les helped me to teach Jack to stay back. Les told me that the reason I was having a problem with him was because his energy was higher than mine, so I couldn’t get through to him. Les matched Jack’s energy and when he did this Jack, stayed back and listened to Les. Jack did the whole second loop with Mariah walking mostly on a loose lead and staying back nicely.

While Les was helping Jack, I walked with Virginia and her mini pony, Moosey. Virginia rode him the whole walk and she did a great job of keeping him in line, even when he wanted to go off and eat. Sometimes Moosey would try to go fast to catch up with Raisin, who he shares a stall with. Moosey acts like Raisin’s child. He has a loving relationship with her and can’t stand to be a way from her. Virginia and Moose make a great pair. Virginia may be young but she is a GREAT rider!!

We walked a lot to day and at the end, we played games in the barn aisle. We learned the body parts of the horse and acted out the Seven games! What a great way to end the day. It was a good day. We all had a fun and everyone a had smile on their face every minute of the day!

Pony Pros 7/28/10

~Emma~

Today we went on a trail ride/walk. The first half Emma [pony pro Emma] and I walked Jack. With Jack, we were working on having him stay behind us. In order to this, Emma and I flapped our arms like a chicken, spanked the ground with the stick in front of us, and wiggled the rope behind us.

After the first loop, we came back to get some fly spray for the ponies/horses because the mosquitoes were really bad! Then Les took over Jack and we helped other kids.

On the way back, I walked with a girl named D and her large pony, Charlie. D was working on the same thing as Emma and I- having the horse stay behind the person. D did a great job at helping Charlie with this task. She has gained a lot of confidence from this clinic!

Then I caught up with Little and Bridget. Bridget had a sprained ankle from tripping in a mud hole so she rode the whole way. If it was a different horse, Bridget might have had to walk. Little was so good today that Bridget didn’t have to walk at all!

Today we went on a trail walk/ride. The kids who had introverted horses rode first then lead their ponies in hand for the rest of the time. The kids who had extroverted horses led first then rode. Like Moose for example – he is a right brain introvert so he rode first. Sometimes Moose is a left brain introvert because even though he doesn’t make faces at you all the time, he is still confident and opinionated like a left brain introvert.

On the other hand Frodo, Reagan’s pony, is a classic left brain extrovert. Frodo is a party pony, he can get anybody to party, even a twenty-six year old mare named Sophie.

Charlie, D’s pony, is a medium spirit left brain introvert with a lot of play drive. He is chestnut and white pinto.

Sophie, Emma’s horse, is a right brain extrovert with a lot of  energy for a twenty-six year old mare.

Raisin, Maddie’s pony, is a right brain introvert with a lot of attitude. She has some left brain extrovert confidence and play drive, which makes it really confusing.

Thanks for reading,

Maddie