Developing Straightness *EDIT for Progress Report!*

[Driving Miss Dixie]

You don't need to buy cones, empty milk jugs work great!

 

[jyuukai]

Ooh good idea! She is actually terrified of milk jugs, the only thing she's afraid of LOL I've thought about tying some to her for fun, but maybe they would be good cones too as you said!

 

[Jetiki]

Lots of great info. try this put the reins in one hand so you have the constant contact, then use your whip accordingly to which side she wants to go to. this way you aren't inadvertently dropping the contact allowing the bulge to which ever direction that she wants to go to. Keep contact don't let her go around sloppy with really loose reins unless you are allowing a stretch and break.

Karen

 

[jyuukai]

I will try and practice my one handed method, but I must say that I seem to lose contact more easily with one hand lol! I road with a Western trainer a number of years and it's like my fingers are trained to let reins slip through them when I have just one hand, silly self! It's amazing how long it takes for old habits to die.

I have been getting pretty proficient at switching the whip though. I rode with a crop alot when I was younger, I was always put on the laziest most ornery horses at any barn

and I got alot of practice at flipping from hand to hand with those animals!

I am so upset that I can't go out and work with her this weekend! I mean upset to the point where I am thinking of giving my shift away LOL. I even dreamed about ground driving her last night!

 

[Sandee]

Don't you just hate it when your mind is so concentrated on something that you can't sleep. It seems like since I retired that the horses are the only thing that can do that to me. I really try to avoid doing anything horse related just before bedtime!

 

[TMR]

You don't need to change hands with the whip. You just turn your hand a touch and the lash with touch the other side. If you go to u-tube, you can pull up videos of CDE's and see how no one changes their whip hand when driving two handed. You can learn alot just by watching the upper level competitors. Since I will be competing at Live Oak this year, I just watched videos of the hazards (oops, obstacles LOL) this morning and you could really see how the singles were using their whips. There are tons of videos on u-tube of CDE driving especially watch the advanced/FEI singles, some have helmet cams that really give you a good view of how they use their whip.

 

[jyuukai]

Sandee - Being too concentrated on something is the story of my life! I obsess on one thing until I find a satisfactory conclusion to it, and then I find another thing to obsess on! Right now my obsession is with trying out all these tips!

TMR- My worry with not switching hands is that I will pull on the rein while I move the whip over, but as I was typing that I thought it was a silly worry because I have to move the reins to switch hands

Thank you for the idea of going onto youtube to watch some videos. I'm looking them up now!

 

[jyuukai]

I went out today and edited the main post to let you guys know how it went. I cant thank you enough!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

You received very good advice from Brasstackminis and TMR, they pretty much nailed it. One thing no one mentioned which I suspect is the root of the problem is hinted at here:

Perhaps setting up a cones course to ground drive through would give you some visual aids? I find that when I ground drive somewhat aimlessly around my property I have a harder time maintaining straightness than when I have a predetermined course. Keeps things interesting too for the horse, I think. Walks down the road have been helpful too, as you have the shoulder of the road as a plumb line.

If someone had been videoing you as you had this problem, I think you'd have been surprised at what you saw. The mare slows down, your reins go slack. You slow down yourself trying to regain contact, stare at her rump and the back of her head, and she starts to drift. You switch your whip to that side and stare at her back even more. She drifts the other way, you switch the whip hurriedly to that side, she hesitates even more and goes the other way. You're still staring at the back of her head and neck and all your concentration has shrunk to that same area.

Let me ask a question: What happens to a bicycle when you stop peddling? And another: How well can you ride that bike if you're staring at your peddles?

Uh-huh. Not very well.

When you stare at the ground you lose your rhythm, you slow down, the bike starts to wobble and pretty soon over you go. Horses are much the same. They go where their leader sends them! In this case her leader's concentration was entirely behind her, so she did exactly what you'd expect her to do and tried to slow and focus on the same thing you were focusing on. If you want her to go forward, you have to send her forward toward some goal. Why do you think they do better going down the road? 'Cause you're both looking at where you're going, of course!

Don't focus on correcting the symptoms (the wobbling to each side) as if by making her not go right and not go left she'll magically go straight; focus on going straight towards something ahead of you and the rest will take care of itself.

Ooh good idea! She is actually terrified of milk jugs, the only thing she's afraid of LOL I've thought about tying some to her for fun, but maybe they would be good cones too as you said!

I doubt she'd think it's "fun" to have something she's terrified of tied to her any more than you'd get over being afraid of snakes by being shut in a box with 15 of them.

Why don't you help her associate them with good things? Tie carrots to the top of a weighed one, put it in her paddock and let her work up the nerve to eat them. Eventually put chopped carrots and other goodies into an open one and let her learn to roll it around to get the goodies out. Pretty soon she'll love milk jugs! Letting her approach them in her own way and then find them rewarding is the best confidence builder.

Leia

 

[jyuukai]

Another big and awesome post!

I will really try and make sure I am not staring at her rump/back. I do have a habit to staring at her ears but my long long history of riding ornery horses has fairly well taught me to LOOK where you want to go unless the ground is where you want to go

It could very well be that I'm getting bored/distracted when wandering up the driveway, so I think I need to mix it up. I'm going to go through my big book of long-lining exercises to give myself a goal for each day so I don't get so 'meh' with doing the same thing every time.

I do want to clarify that I wouldn't tie a thousand milk jugs to the mare when she was blowing and snorting afraid of them still. I wouldn't want to chance the injury of a horse who was running blindly in terror around. I do like to attach things to horses when they are only mildly spooked by them though, it's just something that was taught to me and something that I have found to be fairly effective. And by mildly spooked I mean to say that if it bumps them they jump a little but aren't having a heart attack!

I have been off and on thinking of ways to despook her to milk jugs but the chance hasn't arisen since she was quite small. I think her issue is the sound of rocks in them specifically and not really the milk jugs? If that is the case she might not actually be afraid of them at all anymore as I have not encountered a sound in quite some time that has spooked her! We even had a shotgun go off very close to us before she she only jumped a little bit, though it was her first time to my knowledge being exposed to that

 

[paintponylvr]

I would love to try the cones idea! I've gotta see where I can get some good ones for cheap. We sadly didn't get much back for taxes this year and with all the other things I need (bell boots, round pen, clippers (we burned ours out) running shoes, books, etc) some of the little things have fallen to the side. I do drive her on the road but alot of times we drive on the grass. I'll drive on the pavement next time to see about using that line as a 'barrier'

I agree, the conversation here is great! I'm learning alot and getting alot of amazing tips

Do you drink milk - 1/2 or gallon size - or soda out of 2 ltr bottles? Do you have friends who do? Do you recycle the bottles? Do you have laundry detergents/softeners in bottles? Do your friends, hang-out/work-out buddies, co-workers?

Sorry - that sounds really snarky and not how I mean it...

short of cash - use what you have for obstacles. Laundry detergent bottles, 2 ltr bottles, milk jugs all work as GREAT "markers" and can be weighted as cones can't be, marked w/ dressage letters or painted any color of spray paint you have... When not in use bottles can be strung together on a rope/string to gather them together and tuck them away (or if boarding as it sounds like you are - put in the back of a truck or trunk of a car). Even paperplates (pinned down w/ some type of nails or tacked to the fence) work for marking straight lines or turns. So do barnyard hoses.

For permanent obstacles - drive from fence post to fence post (across the paddock from each other not just in line) - concentrating on lightening your hands enuf that you are straightening out the drift w/o over compensating. Get to one post and look for another, turn towards it and drive striaght towards it. Trust me, at first your lines won't be straight at all - doesn't matter - as you get your line handling balanced and practiced you won't over/under correct her and she will get better. Then pick a bush or flower or tree or the tire outlining the edge of the driveway and drive towards it - before reaching it choose which way you will drive around it and start your turn by going the opposite way first to get a nice bend around the obstacle in the direction you wanted and choose another obstacle to drive straight towards....

**********

This thread is cool - as it's re-inforcing some of what I, too, already know and FINALLY explaining some things I've not figure out yet w/o more advanced lessons... Have plans for more advanced lessons - has't come together yet...

Where do you board your filly in Fuquay-Varina? Can you haul out? Have you thought of driving her on trails to get that forward walk? Lots of trails fairly close by to you. Is your wife going to be driving as well?

My pony driving friend and I sometimes do trail walks. We are driving our started ponies with carts now, but I have 3 coming 3 yr olds, 3 coming 2 yr olds and 6 coming yearlings - all that are starting to get more work. Some will go do trails w/ us behind our carts and some will get some ground driving time in harness to develop that good forward walk this summer... We can always have more companionship with our trail walks and have carts available too (may be too big for your filly - depending on what size she is). Day trips and pick-up/drop-off can always be arranged. We love discovering new trails and if there are any around Fuquay, we'd love to be shown them...

 

[paintponylvr]

O, guess I should have read every post before replying, LOL... I'm sorry.

You got a lot of tips - some the same tho stated differently.

As to doing the milk jugs attached to her - here's a pic -

Before she graduated to driving with the jugs "attached", I sold her and she went on to become a great little hunter pony.

turning around containers - and here is one using the containers along with buckets (different colors!). She's on a lounge line here, but soon was taken off and could guide this pony around the obstacles by herself. Later she would learn better support with the outside rein as well as light contact on the inside.

 

[jyuukai]

Oh my goodness, that's exactly how good I want my horse to be with milk jugs! I was laughing so hard with you posted that thinking 'In North Carolina we LOVE hooking milk jugs to horses!' LOL

We don't drink any soda but we go through milk like crazy and I plan on saving a bunch of our jugs from here on out! I do have a friend who is a soda lover and I may be able to convince her to let me have some of her 2 liters as well! I love love love the idea of making them into dressage arena markers. I don't know that i have a good area for that now but it's something I will keep in mind for when we finally move out!

To answer where she is boarded, though we live in Fuquay we keep her on the property of a family in Duncan who had a mini dropped off on them! It's a really great situation

We buy our own feed and go halves on hay. He keeps them fed and watered and in exchange play with his little one when we are there (not as often as we 'd like in winter

) And take care of their feet and de-worming. She is incredible happy there and we have a nice long drive and a big field (awkwardly shaped) and a quiet dead-end road to work her on. And she gets exposed to an incredible amount of things!

We sadly do not have a trailer though at times I have thought about putting her in the back of the minivan! We can sometimes arrange for somebody to help us haul her places. She has only been trailered twice but has never given us any trouble

Day trips would be fun, perhaps this summer? She is about 36 inches tall and wears a size 48" banket. She's a big girl! We are looking for a well priced used EE or sulky style (not show nice) used cart, but so far no luck! I will have to pm you about the trail idea sometime

I saw you on the forum and noticed you were pretty nearby! I will ask around about trails. I rode a big long one once but it was party on the road and that was quite some time ago!

Oh the wife DOES drive, but her background is in harness racers! lol. I don't believe she has driven a pleasure horse before but I'm sure it wouldn't be too far of a stretch from racers!