Applying Basic Concepts
Today it was over 40 degrees and sunny, so it felt like a heatwave after the cold weather we have been having. I had tweaked my shims once again and wanted to give them a try so I rode Gunny up and down the driveway to see what he thought of the shims.
As we were riding, there were a couple of occasions where he started to get a little distracted and emotional. So as soon as he started to get a little tight, I started to do something such as a tight circle and insist that he stayed walking. I would do an indirect rein if he broke into a trot, but otherwise I just stuck with the tight circle until he softened. Then I would either continue down the driveway or just keep riding him in the circle but with a lengthened rein or we would stop and stand. I was looking for relaxation in the movement and the release was within the movement too. IOW, when he would relax and soften we would continue "x" until he was doing it calmly and then we would stop.
Also, there were a few times where I would make a request and then he would get tight as he responded to the request. So I decided to continue with the request (i.e haunches over) until he softened AND responded at the same time. Then we would either stop and stand or walk on and I would try again until I could make the request and he could stay soft right away.
So I think that the area that I am working on right now would be "It's the release that teaches"--but in a more advanced way. So even though he is making a response, if his emotions are wrong or he isn't soft, then I kept up the request until he softened and then I released.
As I am writing this down it sounds like it isn't the right thing to do, but it worked very well. By the end of our short ride, he was softening right away as soon as I reminded him and he ears were flopped out to the side and he was very soft.
For the getting tense when responding to a request part, I think that keeping the pressure/request on until he responded and softened at the same time was, in essence playing friendly game with that request. So at that point he was needing to become a little less sensitive to that cue because he was not OK with it. Now, Gunny is extremely light and responsive, so it isn't a matter of the cues being shouted at him but rather that he just needed to understand that I wanted the response without the emotion.
For the times when he was getting tense/distracted on his own, I think that there is a combination of: do a little bit sooner instead of more later, making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult, and it's the release that teaches.
One other thing that I did too was when he started to speed up when we turned to head back towards home, I have been saying "you want to walk fast, me too-but let's walk a little bit faster than that". After I got past him breaking into a trot and staying in the walk, this works like a charm to take the fun out of walking back home impulsively.
As we were riding, there were a couple of occasions where he started to get a little distracted and emotional. So as soon as he started to get a little tight, I started to do something such as a tight circle and insist that he stayed walking. I would do an indirect rein if he broke into a trot, but otherwise I just stuck with the tight circle until he softened. Then I would either continue down the driveway or just keep riding him in the circle but with a lengthened rein or we would stop and stand. I was looking for relaxation in the movement and the release was within the movement too. IOW, when he would relax and soften we would continue "x" until he was doing it calmly and then we would stop.
Also, there were a few times where I would make a request and then he would get tight as he responded to the request. So I decided to continue with the request (i.e haunches over) until he softened AND responded at the same time. Then we would either stop and stand or walk on and I would try again until I could make the request and he could stay soft right away.
So I think that the area that I am working on right now would be "It's the release that teaches"--but in a more advanced way. So even though he is making a response, if his emotions are wrong or he isn't soft, then I kept up the request until he softened and then I released.
As I am writing this down it sounds like it isn't the right thing to do, but it worked very well. By the end of our short ride, he was softening right away as soon as I reminded him and he ears were flopped out to the side and he was very soft.
For the getting tense when responding to a request part, I think that keeping the pressure/request on until he responded and softened at the same time was, in essence playing friendly game with that request. So at that point he was needing to become a little less sensitive to that cue because he was not OK with it. Now, Gunny is extremely light and responsive, so it isn't a matter of the cues being shouted at him but rather that he just needed to understand that I wanted the response without the emotion.
For the times when he was getting tense/distracted on his own, I think that there is a combination of: do a little bit sooner instead of more later, making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult, and it's the release that teaches.
One other thing that I did too was when he started to speed up when we turned to head back towards home, I have been saying "you want to walk fast, me too-but let's walk a little bit faster than that". After I got past him breaking into a trot and staying in the walk, this works like a charm to take the fun out of walking back home impulsively.
Comments