Bringing along another driving horse...

This year I shared the progress of training a driving horse as I progressed from last November to Nationals. Some of you may remember Flirt.

I am starting a new filly to show in 2008, since Flirty is going to learn to be a mom. This filly is named Gaia. She is a 33.5" ASPC/AMHR registered 2yo mare, I will also be hardshipping her into AMHA as soon as she is eligible.

Instead of sending her out to Patty Cloke for training, as I did with Flirt, I will be doing the training myself this time. It is something I am looking forward to doing. I load up the girls once a week and take them to Patty's for a progress check lesson, then get a game plan for the upcoming week. I am so blessed and lucky to have the facilities to do this. As you can see in the video, it is snowing and blowing here today, but we are safely under the cover of our nice roof!

As I watched my video, I notice a few things. Gaia is just starting to learn to carry a siderein. She had become used to going in the bridle alone, but when we added the siderein she began to resist again. You will see her doing some headtossing and mouth gapping. This is actually a little worse today after she has had a few days off after I hurt myself. I expect that she will get comfortable and begin carrying it correctly in the next few days. At that point, I will shorten it up another hole. You will notice at this point they both have their halters on under their driving bridles, but do not have cavessons. This will allow them to learn to carry the bridle correctly without the stress of having their mouths strapped shut.

I am working Gaia with Ally. Ally is of course an experienced driving horse. She is the first horse I trained to drive on my own. I did make some mistakes early on with her that cost us time, I took a few shortcuts that actually ended up causing me problems. Primarily, Ally didn't learn for quite some time how to bend correctly when going to the right, and since she was so stiff she didn't travel straight. She is actually pretty good now, and you can see a couple things in this video. First off, she is carrying the bridle very comfortably. Secondly, the siderein is bouncing quite a bit, so I need to shorten her up a couple of holes. I would like to see her accept a nice soft contact onto that siderein as she drives underneath herself with her hind end. You can see in the still photos on this video that she is really starting to use her hind end so nicely. I am very happy with how Ally is going these days. She is going to be a real contender in the country pleasure ring in 2008, I believe. She is so much fun because I can do anything with her. I am so glad I didn't sell her last year when I was thinking about it. I can't ever see myself selling her now.

This is our first video of a number I will do in the upcoming year. If you own Patty's tapes (and even if you don't) and want to see someone actually progress through the program on their own, it will be fun for you to watch us come along. The other day I watched the video I have from Flirt's first show last April (Oregon Gold), and then the one that I did from Nationals. Wow! It is so much fun to see that progression. I highly suggest that people do this when you are training. Interestingly enough, sometimes you see stuff on the video that you don't necessarily notice when you are out in the ring with them.

My goal with Gaia in the next 30 days is to have her in the cart with long-lines by Jan. 1. I am so lucky to live near Patty! I am going to help her put her first year horses in the cart on my work break between Christmas and New Years. I am sure I will learn so much from that. That is the same time that we will get Gaia hooked.

Anyway, here is the first video, hope you enjoy it, and can learn a little from us as we go along.

Loved it. I watch the other one you made all the time.

You make such great videos Amy. I love it!

Gaia is a very pretty girl and I look forward to seeing her as she learns to put her weight on her hindquarters and round up that front end. Now keeping in mind that I've never seen Patty's videos and come from a western/hunter/dressage background, can I ask a question? Why do you have the sidereins up so high on a beginning horse? My understanding was that doing so would encourage the horse to overbend and break behind the poll.

(Ally's such a laid-back lady. I love to watch her just goin' along.... ) I went out and bought a camcorder for Kody's first year of competition for exactly the reason you state. I'd looked back at some old videos of my Arab and I our first year out and been flabbergasted by the changes in him and I wanted to make sure I had that same opportunity with Kody. It's been priceless! I may forget to post them, but they're here in my video drawer if I ever find the spare time to load them.

Leia

Looks great! Can't wait to see how she progresses!

And I just had to ask - how big is that round pen?

thanks for sharing that...I felt like I was standing at the side of your round pen watching you

I look forward to seeing her progress....Keep us updated..

Angie

Hi Leia, thanks for asking. Actually the reason it is hooked there is pretty simple, it is the hook where my tugs hang from. LOL. No special reason!

I have not found that having a siderein at that level would cause a horse to go behind the bit. If you think of where you would connect with a riding horse, no way would your hands be down at that level. Going behind the bit is more a function of not going forward enough. That is what I know from my riding, at any rate.

I want my horses to bend laterally well, then they will be able to go forward straight and connected. Or as my dressage instructor says, "Obtaining straightness is merely the perfection of left and right." That is where I shortcutted Ally. I did not obtain perfection in both left and right. I got it pretty good left. And not at all good right. Guess what...behind the bit! On the forehand! What a mess! We are working on it.

Edited to add, the round pen is about 40'. I have a 10' passageway on all sides of my 60' wide arena, so I can ride around behind it.

I was thinking about it some more last night, and realize it may not be obvious in the video that I only have a siderein connected on one side at this point. They are pretty loose now, the rein only really comes into play if the horse tries to look to the outside. By the time I move to the next step the horse will be accepting to the bit as it bends them to about 45 degrees at most. This is where they learn to get their rib cage up to step under from the inside hind.

I teach my riding horses with one rein at a time, then bring them up to two. Below I am showing a recent photo of my 4yo gelding. I am working on getting him to do a few steps of haunches in, which he is starting to do as you can see on his right hind. You can see that we have a nice soft connection through the rein, but it is connected. His poll is the highest point and his nose is vertical. There is a straight line between my elbow and the bit. Sedona was trained to give to the bit left and right prior to adding in some vertical flexion. All the time with a lot of forward, no backwards traction on the rein, and no blocking of movement. What I mean by no backwards traction, is I set where my hand is and do not pull. I am pretty good at this when riding, but I am still working on the no pull rule when driving. And you can see it in some of the photos I have had taken with Flirt where she is a bit jammed up. Still learning.

At any rate, I wanted to point out a couple of additional fine details, namely the fact that I start with one rein/one siderein, and the point of connection is not what drives a situation where you are getting behind the bit. To contrast where the point of connection is with my driving horse in training, I have also included a photo of her. You can see the lower angle of the connection from my riding horse photo. That is what I meant by if you are riding, your angle from the bit is definitely going to be higher.





As a dressage person, I would note a few things about this photo of Gaia. First, she is still resisting to the outside against the siderein. She is pulling against herself, their is no backward traction applied as this is a continuous connection to the saddle. The connection is "postlike." Because of this, if she gives to the rein correctly, she will be able to put the slack into it herself. She will learn to give in that direction which will result in her "standing up" more, she will not motorcycle through the turn. I want that give to be on the atlas joint near her poll, and I will know she is understanding when she gives without tipping her nose. What I like in this photo are two things. First, I can clearly see that she has a good connection through the loin, as she is definitely going to step with her inside hind into the same spot as her departing inside fore. This is engagement. Secondly, her gait is "pure," meaning that the line of angle for the diagonal leg pairs is the same.

Hope that helps people educate their eye a bit.

ClickMini said:

If you own Patty's tapes (and even if you don't) and want to see someone actually progress through the program on their own, it will be fun for you to watch us come along.

Click to expand...

I tried to watch your video but being on dialup connection, it didn't really work . When you refer to Patty's tapes, are they training tapes? And where can I buy them from?

Good luck with little Gaia, even if I can't access the video's I'll certainly follow your progress on the website.

Chilli's Mum I am sorry you couldn't watch it! Yes, Patty's training tapes are available here: http://www.clokestables.com/ClinicsDvds.html she does a great job explaining the steps in bringing along a driving horse. I live so close to Patty and train with her, so I can say that these tapes really do follow the progression that she goes through in starting a new prospect. You can also read an article by Patty in the last Miniature World Showcase magazine on whether your horse is a country or single pleasure prospect, how to determine where you will do best.

Hope that helps! I will keep up with the updates!

ClickMini said:

Chilli's Mum I am sorry you couldn't watch it! Yes, Patty's training tapes are available here: http://www.clokestables.com/ClinicsDvds.html she does a great job explaining the steps in bringing along a driving horse. I live so close to Patty and train with her, so I can say that these tapes really do follow the progression that she goes through in starting a new prospect. You can also read an article by Patty in the last Miniature World Showcase magazine on whether your horse is a country or single pleasure prospect, how to determine where you will do best.

Hope that helps! I will keep up with the updates!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info - I'll check it out

i'm excited to watch you train another horse

i learned some new things last time

i have also been using the excersises you used during your lessons

the collection/extension practice has been great for my horses

Thank you for sharing. It is so interesting watching a horse come along in it's training. Mary

Ok Amy--

How far have you gotten with this little girl? I keep looking for updates, but either missed them or they weren't posted. I am currently training my little mare to drive and just wanted to see how far you had progressed in the same amount of time as myself.

Amand

Oh boy, thank you for remembering about this! That is very nice.

I actually backed off on this filly, because I got worried about her health. She has a heart issue that developed as a result of having a long-term systemic infection in her first year. It took me a year to get that little girl healthy, and sadly, this is a remnant that nothing can help. She runs out of air pretty fast and her recovery times are not that great. So I decided that she could just be a pet for another year and then I will try breeding her; hoping like crazy to get a filly to replace her in my program, then she can just be my pretty little pet.

In the meantime, I have worked really hard with Ally this spring. She competed at Oregon Gold, and I earned the high-point Over Division Amateur for the show. That was so exciting! We have a full slate of shows and CDEs this year together.

I am also showing Esprit in halter, and laying the foundation for him to be a driving horse. I am experimenting with some ideas to help bring out his best. So far, it is working nicely. I am getting him very soft to the bridle, and also getting some lift in his trot. Only ground work at this time, I am in no rush. I am building a lifetime partner and friend. I have spent a good portion of my adult life studying and practicing the John Lyons method of training, combined with clicker training. I am really using these methods on Esprit. I want to develop a soft, beautiful driving horse that responds to light cues, something that gives me the same "dancing" feeling I have with my ridden horses. We will see how it goes. If there are people out there who are using these methods to develop driving horses I am not aware of it, so I am really taking my time to build lesson plans for my boy. At this point, I am doing it exactly the way I would develop a green riding horse.

So that is what I have been up to. I am really enjoying Miss Ally this year, she is so fun to drive and is so willing. And she is one I trained to drive all by myself. I do love the driving horses!

Please do post pics and progress on what you are doing with yours!

Amy,

I am sorry to hear about your filly. That always makes it difficult when a nice horse gets a health problem. It is a little ironic as I am going through some health issues with my mare. She has been breaking out in hives since the middle of February and we can't seem to figure out the cause. So I took a few weeks off working her, but just started again last week. She seems to be remembering everything well, but working outside in the rain and with mud puddles just doesn't cut it for her. I forgot she is a princess and would melt if she got too wet. OH! Anyways, we have been doing lots of leg yielding and walking turns on the forehand to get her to bend laterally and soften her whole body. I will try and get some video and/or pictures of her recently. My goal is to have her in the cart by fathers day in June, but since she is a sensitive creature, it may be a little after that. We'll see how she takes to the cart.

Again sorry to hear about your filly, but it sounds like your colt will be awesome!

Amanda

Hi all -

I just had to share with someone, but I am almost to the point of putting my little mare in the cart. FINALLY after 2 1/2 years! As a quick background, I got my mare, Fancy, when she was 1 1/2yrs, with no handling straight out of a 80 acre pasture. At two I started lounging her in the harness and did some ground driving. Well, about a month into the work, she still hadn't progressed anywhere, and then one day flipped over in the cross ties. So I decided to give her 6 months off and then start her again. Due to school, and work, it was more like 8 months. When I started her again, we progressed fast, but then she was just too scared of the poles. So I took the long way to China. I started by dragging the poles without the harness, then with just the saddle and only one side at a time. Then I was able to do both sides, and actually hook her up to them (without a bridle though). Then life got hectic and I could only use the arena at night, after everyone had left. So then she got another two months off. When I started her back, we did a refresher course, and then i started doing the basic pole work with the blinkers on. She was still pretty scared of them, and so we just spent many nights walking around with one pole dragging behind her. Finally, the light bulb turned on, and she just settle down and started moving forward in leaps and bounds. Then, at the end of February of this year, she broke out in hives for no reason. So I gave her Feb and March off, figuring the hives would go away. No such luck. We are still battling them, but two weeks ago, I just decided to finish her training hives or not. I figured she was going to be a loon and regressed like 5 steps in the 3 months off, but surprisingly, she didn't. She just took right back to the pole work, and was like "Yeah, ok what's next?" So this week, I am looking to start her in the cart!!!! I am so excited that we are finally almost there!!!!! I don't have pictures yet, but hopefully soon (It's hard to take pictures and work her at the same time).

Anyways, I'm a little excited and had to share with someone.

Amanda

I enjoyed your video too, you have always put together great videos!

I had to take a peek AGAIN at your Alladdin video, he is beautiful and love his spirit!!!

Amanda, that's great! I'm so excited for you.

Leia

Amanda! Good job sticking with the program, even through the tough times. It is so hard to find the time to train as much as they need.

Best of luck, and we'll be looking for YOUR youtube video soon!