Week Ten

An absolutely lovely ride this morning to start the week.  Fudge started out a bit out of sorts this morning and it took quite a bit of groundwork to get him working with me.  I might have made an error by attempting to move the poles in the arena with him standing (untied) nearby.  He wandered off up the arena and I followed and recaptured him with no incident but he seemed fearful of me after that.
When I was doing the lateral work in hand he was anticipating and whizzing around me, falling out with his outside hind instead of crossing his inside hind and taking ages to stop when told.  I just kept my patience and only rewarded him for calm, slow crossings.  It's situations like this where you have to keep the long game in mind.  I don't just want him turning around the forehand, I want him calmly accepting the pressure of the whip and giving me the rhythmic steps that will translate to good work under saddle.
Hopped on and again, he stood like a rock at the mounting block, even when I reached over and ran down then dropped the offside stirrup.  Good boy.  He got a food reward for that one and looked very pleased with himself.
FLEXION was the word of the day and we started off doing nuchal (crest) flips at a halt.  I was giving him a verbal reinforcer ("good") each time he did it and soon started to catch on that that's what he was getting rewarded for.  We continued to play with flexions as I moved him around in walk, walking up the inside track and flexing left and right.  At first, his forelegs deviated a few steps per change but as he got the idea he was able to stay travelling straight but flex in and out easily.
Then we worked on some spirals and I was so pleased at how easily he followed my shoulder and weight aids to move in on the spiral.  Effortless!  Then we did some big leg yielding steps back out and again, very pleased with his quick, big response from my minor leg aids.  Spiralled back in and asked for counter flexion on the small circle and this was where he said things got hard!  I had to keep my shoulders rotated to keep him travelling around the circle and not always wanting to follow his nose out.  When this was established and after a few solid repetitions, I put my inside leg on and *bingo* got a few half-pass steps with very easy and soft flexion in the direction of travel.  As this is sometimes a difficult concept for horses I was pleased he was accepting of my aids and tried so hard to do what I wanted.
Up to trot and it's feeling much looser and longer, especially when we hit a patch of deeper sand in the arena.  I have to be careful to sit very square and straight as he's so responsive to weight that I don't want to make him crooked by accident!  Sitting trot still much easier for him to balance under me so will continue to do that for now, with bursts of rising trot on big circles and straight lines.
When it's so much fun to play with laterals it's hard to make yourself do 'boring' basics but I did several reps of trot-walk-trot sequences decreasing the number of walk steps until he was doing two and then neatly hopping back into trot immediately off my aid.  It felt brilliant and the downward transitions are just getting stronger and straighter and easier, I just had to sit up and lengthen the front of my body and he flowed into walk and stayed on the contact.  Was a good exercise to do going-large around the arena and using the corners to help him balance.
The transition sequences really switched him on to the aids and I used the opportunity to pop him into canter.  The canter feels really green compared to how good the trot is feeling but at no point today did I feel like there was any 'naughtiness' coming.  Even the tense moments felt relaxed, if that makes sense!?  He struggles a bit accepting the hand in canter and thinks that he is being asked for a downwards transition so I just need to really think about maintaining the rhythm with my upper body and leg and occasionally use a voice aid to reinforce that he should keep cantering.  Several good circles on the bad side and one really good circle on the good side and we went back to trot and tried some leg yielding from the quarter line to the track.  Easy peasy and lovely big crossing steps so feeling like Novice is not so far away with a bit more practice (and the canter a bit tidier!)  We also popped over the single cavaletti (cavaletto?) out of trot and he landed in right canter (the hard side) and lolloped along sweetly so he got a food reward for that attempt too.  Maybe I will try lunging him over some bigger jumps to teach him the idea without the complication of a rider for now.
We finished with a wander up the road where he felt wonderfully relaxed - we did some shoulder-in along the roadside and it was fun to see him working out the aid even while out of the arena.  We went a few hundred meters up one side, then back and past the driveway (small nap/suggestion of going home) so carried on a few hundred meters back the other way including paying a visit to the large boulder he was a bit scared of on Thursday.
Then he gave my 3yo daughter a pony ride around the arena!

Week Nine

This week started with an absolutely brilliant ride!  As well as standing like a rock to be tacked up, Fudge surprised me by opening his mouth wide for the bit, a pretty clear sign that he was happy to be ridden and not something many horses do!
I started with ground work, using the dressage whip to ask him gently to cross his hind legs and progressively moving the location of the aid from his hock up his leg and quarters to his flank and then his girth.  Once he was quietly stepping over from a light pressure at the girth I used my body language to ask him to cross over his forelegs too until we were walking small circles at a sort of leg-yield/shoulder-in.  Most importantly, he was calm and relaxed throughout and is becoming really trainable and offering lots of 'tries' in response to new or different pressures.
Then I climbed on board and he very happily crossed his hind legs at walk on the right rein but was less willing to do it on the left.  This confirms what I've observed on the lunge; that he's just not as coordinated on that side and just isn't as strong.  If he's ever going to go on the wrong lead or get disunited on the lunge it always happens on the left rein.
Once I'd given him some clearer feedback and a food reward or two for hind-leg crossing to the left he was much happier to do it.  Then we tried it in trot and here we came upon our first real objection under saddle!  It didn't last very long but it was a good demonstration of how a horse like this needs things really broken down for him to accept them calmly.  We went back to walk and got him really confirmed and then just tried again on the easy side... success!  He trotted slowly, crossing his hind and forelegs quite nicely and I quickly changed the rein and got it happening on the hard side before he had a chance to think or worry about it too much.  We played with this exercise for quite a while and it was great for unlocking Fudge along his length so I found a great way to use his new-found looseness.  I did the big broadside shoulder-in/leg-yield up the short sides, then pushed the trot right out across the long diagonals.  Unusually, I drilled this over and over and he seemed to really appreciate the repetitions!  Another interesting quirk about Fudge's personality, maybe?
It was lovely to feel how the lateral steps loosened him up and the steps got longer and freer without rushing.  I haven't really achieved very much when I've tried to lengthen his trot steps before so it was a big improvement on earlier efforts.  He also got a bit tight in the neck the first couple of times (I think in response to both legs going on and maybe anticipating canter?) so was fun when he started lengthening and stretching his neck as the steps lengthened too.  I finished on a pretty flawless 'stretchy circle' from the Prelim and Novice tests
We also trotted over a cavaletti for the first 5-6 times, which was hard and scary for poor Fudge.  He landed in canter after one of the attempts but it was rushed and really tense so I just used a voice aid to bring him back.  When he can consistently canter in a relaxed way on the lunge I will start to ask for it under saddle.  I really think he's very weak physically and that slowly-slowly is going to be a smart move with this guy.
I also remembered to take a photo!

Week Seven

This week started with an absolutely brilliant ride!  As well as standing like a rock to be tacked up, Fudge surprised me by opening his mouth wide for the bit, a pretty clear sign that he was happy to be ridden and not something many horses do!
I started with ground work, using the dressage whip to ask him gently to cross his hind legs and progressively moving the location of the aid from his hock up his leg and quarters to his flank and then his girth.  Once he was quietly stepping over from a light pressure at the girth I used my body language to ask him to cross over his forelegs too until we were walking small circles at a sort of leg-yield/shoulder-in.  Most importantly, he was calm and relaxed throughout and is becoming really trainable and offering lots of 'tries' in response to new or different pressures.
Then I climbed on board and he very happily crossed his hind legs at walk on the right rein but was less willing to do it on the left.  This confirms what I've observed on the lunge; that he's just not as coordinated on that side and just isn't as strong.  If he's ever going to go on the wrong lead or get disunited on the lunge it always happens on the left rein.
Once I'd given him some clearer feedback and a food reward or two for hind-leg crossing to the left he was much happier to do it.  Then we tried it in trot and here we came upon our first real objection under saddle!  It didn't last very long but it was a good demonstration of how a horse like this needs things really broken down for him to accept them calmly.  We went back to walk and got him really confirmed and then just tried again on the easy side... success!  He trotted slowly, crossing his hind and forelegs quite nicely and I quickly changed the rein and got it happening on the hard side before he had a chance to think or worry about it too much.  We played with this exercise for quite a while and it was great for unlocking Fudge along his length so I found a great way to use his new-found looseness.  I did the big broadside shoulder-in/leg-yield up the short sides, then pushed the trot right out across the long diagonals.  Unusually, I drilled this over and over and he seemed to really appreciate the repetitions!  Another interesting quirk about Fudge's personality, maybe?
It was lovely to feel how the lateral steps loosened him up and the steps got longer and freer without rushing.  I haven't really achieved very much when I've tried to lengthen his trot steps before so it was a big improvement on earlier efforts.  He also got a bit tight in the neck the first couple of times (I think in response to both legs going on and maybe anticipating canter?) so was fun when he started lengthening and stretching his neck as the steps lengthened too.  I finished on a pretty flawless 'stretchy circle' from the Prelim and Novice tests
We also trotted over a cavaletti for the first 5-6 times, which was hard and scary for poor Fudge.  He landed in canter after one of the attempts but it was rushed and really tense so I just used a voice aid to bring him back.  When he can consistently canter in a relaxed way on the lunge I will start to ask for it under saddle.  I really think he's very weak physically and that slowly-slowly is going to be a smart move with this guy.
I also remembered to take a photo!

Week Six

It's been another busy week so Fudge has been having some paddock-time and not much exercise - judging by the battle scars he's coming in with, he's finding his place in the pecking order and getting to grips with the herd dynamics out there! 
He had one learning experience the other night when he refused to be caught to come in for the night... so he stayed out, missed dinner and was VERY keen to be caught the following morning.  There's still green pick in the paddock so I wasn't worried about him skipping a meal.  Interestingly, though, he's cleaned up his hay every night since so I think the memory of a hungry night might have stayed with him!
I got up early and rode this morning and had a totally marvellous time.  He was very chilled out and in fact, did not shy or spook once, even when we meandered up the driveway and out to the road to finish the session.  Very pleased with this!
Today we worked on small circles and using the circles to help the horse find his own balance without relying on me for multiple corrections and rebalancings.  This is based on the work of Michael Shaffer, an American coach whose book Right From the Start I quite like.  Shaffer has some interesting concepts including describing a horse having a 'natural circle' - a circle of such a small diameter that the horse needs to take a lateral engaging step to stay upright.  The size of the circle varies with the size and athleticism/suppleness of the horse.  Fudge is naturally balanced so finding his 'natural circle' was a bit of a challenge - it was very small!  He also continued to do his slightly weird resistance of gently lengthening his neck, bumping gently into the contact and then doing a downwards transition or halting (all very calmly now but still happening too often for my liking.  It might be time to start carrying a dressage whip but I'm hesitant to do anything that will frighten him just as his trust is building.)
So I did lots of pretty small circles, spiralling outwards when I felt Fudge was in self carriage and lengthening and increasing the power of the trot until I felt him become unbalanced and then promptly switching back to the natural circle again.  It worked pretty nicely and I can see it being useful for cantering once we get back to that.  (I've decided to really consolidate the canter on the lunge for a while and only canter under saddle once we're really working as a team, as it seems to be a source of fear/conflict for him.  But I don't think it will take long - he felt totally with me and 'playing the game' this morning!)  Looking forward to putting some jumps in front of him soon!
His right rein is definitely the weaker side so I concentrated on helping him find his swing and 'staying out of the way' - keeping my weight really evenly distributed (hard on a 7ish metre circle!) with feet firm in the stirrups.  Interestingly, I do think he finds it easier to carry me in sitting trot which is a bit counter intuitive. 
Shaffer also talks about training an 'Allowed Stop' where you praise the horse, pat his neck and drop the reins, then allow the horse a short rest as a clear reward for correct responses.  Fudge REALLY liked this and soon got the hang of it, giving me some nicely balanced halts out of trot.  He also started showing me some good relaxed body language while resting, including big sighs and neck stretches. I will have to be careful to train a proper halt too, so that dressage tests don't begin and end with 'flumps' instead of halts!
I gave him a quick lunge again tonight just wearing a cavesson (ie, no contact) and again he responded really nicely to verbal praise for stretching his neck out.  He is getting more coordinated moving this way and his body looks like it is swinging more, his stride is lengthening as he relaxes more about just the idea of lunging, the whip being near him and 'squeezing' him between me and the arena fence, which he still hates.  He much prefers the right rein (which is a bit weird as he still prefers to be handled from the nearside) and had a few -unfortunately successful- attempts at turning-in on the left and asking to go right.  I still don't want to jump back and whack him with the whip at the this point, which would be my instinctive response if another horse were to try this particular evasion.  But I think getting Fudge's confidence up is more important.  So I just walk up to him, push him back out on the left, follow him up with a gentle gesture from the whip and try not to make a big deal of it.  Once he relaxed he stopped trying it anyway.
This horse is teaching me the importance of the training pyramid with relaxation/rhythm at the base.  Luckily he has a naturally rhythmic and consistent tempo to his paces.
Even more exciting than his physical improvement, I also clipped his leg and bridle-path with very little tension exhibited and sprayed him all over with a spray bottle.  Yay!  What a brave boy and hooray for clicker training.  Using the clicker to capture calm acceptance has been such a great tool for re-educating this scared boy.

Week Five

This week began with another little ride and some more clicker training for acceptance of the electric clippers. I clipped his chin a bit and he wasn't too bothered but not perfect yet.
The ride was interesting with another couple of 'firsts' including wearing leg protection for the first time (said he couldn't walk with them on!) having a canter (had a scoot and then a hump after the first strike off but was OK after that) opening gates from the saddle (very good and obliging) and walking down the Terrifying Driveway of Dooooom! (self-explanatory).  Lots of praise, lots of standing about doing nothing, lots of food rewards for particularly good efforts.
While schooling, I am continuing to keep the hand pressure very consistent but fairly light and elastic to discourage Fudge from shortening his neck and ducking behind the contact.  He continued his weird little habit of creeping his neck down and then bumping into the reins and halting but actually got a little worse when I took a hard-line approach to this and anchored myself and gave him something more substantial to bump into.  This caused him to start really snatching the rein in the downwards transitions as he was anticipating hurting his mouth but not really realising it was him hurting himself!  So I changed my approach and started giving lavish rewards for smaller and gentler snatches, eventually phasing out the behaviour and getting a stable head and neck for trot-walk and walk-halt downwards transitions.  This will continue to be my focus for the next few rides as the balance in the transitions can make a big difference to the rideability of the horse.  We also did some work in sitting trot which is (luckily) very comfortable, and I practiced shaping the trot steps to become bigger and looser.  He has a very regular tempo and doesn't often rush which is good for a horse with such an anxious personality.   
He is very nice to ride with a light, mobile shoulder, a naturally straight neck and easy poll flexion to either side.  He is also very willing and eager to please so although he is nervous and did a couple of very quick shies, they were easily controlled and he went right back to work again afterwards.  I'll have to be careful not to get 'arena-bound' with this horse as he needs to learn to focus and trust his rider no matter what the situation.

Monday evening saw Fudge continuing to learn about the clippers and really starting to show his understanding of the clicker marking his immobility.  I clipped both his hind legs with him standing rock solid, untied.  Brilliant!
Then I tacked him up for lunging with cavesson, roller, Vienna reins and bridle.  I've only lunged him loose in a round yard before so there were a few moments of indecision and miscommunication but mainly all very nice.  He cantered neatly on each rein and only got above himself once but very promptly came back when I pulled on the lunge rein.  He showed a few uneven steps on his near fore so I will see what the barefoot trimmer says when she comes to look at his hooves tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday
The barefoot trimmer came today and cut a biggish bit out of the front of his near fore which looked like last year's seedy toe.  Hopefully we've removed all the damaged tissue and it won't need treating but we will keep a close eye on it.  The other toe was fine and all four hooves got the tick of approval, being described as 'very hard' and 'very well-shaped' so that's good to hear!  She mentioned that he had a fair bit of dead sole on both forefeet but she left it on as he'll need it to protect his changing hoof shape. I hope now that his diet is improved his hoof, coat and hair condition will improve quickly too.  He took a walk down the Terrifying Driveway and it wasn't too bad at all.  While on the driveway we introduced the idea of crossing his hind legs in response to hand pressure at the girth and using the clicker made this process very easy as I only clicked for big lateral crossing steps and held off if he did a step-together-step or shuffle.
Wednesday
Some very good and some very bad experiences for poor little Fudge today.  It started positively with some more clicker training to help him accept a spray bottle.  His previous owner said he was petrified of sprays and he never used them so I knew this might take some time and equipped myself with some extra yummy treats.  For a sprayer I chose leave-in human hair conditioner as the noise was very minimal.  Nevertheless, the first time I gently sprayed his shoulder with it he went completely


beserk!  Running back (I'd untied the lead rope first) then flinging his head right up.  I just stayed calm and moved him back to the starting position and sprayed again.  This time he flung his head up but didn't move his feet so I clicked and treated.  He has already had 'standing still while weird stuff happens' captured with the clippers so I think he understood fairly quickly.  I carried on with the other side of him, only spraying on his shoulder and neck, fairly 'safe' areas for him.  The 'extinction burst' came several clicks and treats later when he tested what he'd learned and ran right back again and even did a tiny rear to tell me how upset he was feeling about it all.  However, very quickly after that he totally calmed down about the spray and I ended up being able to spray him all over without him showing any signs of stress, he even took a mouthful of hay and munched it!  Success!  Will repeat tomorrow.
The next success happened in the arena, where I took him, bridled and with dressage whip in hand, to try some in-hand work.  This was simply LOVELY.  I soon had him soft in the rein and walking quietly and calmly around me, then accepting some hand pressure at the girth and crossing his hind legs like a champ.  This easily turned into some shoulder-in along the rail and I think he enjoyed having a job to do as he showed no inclination to shy or be silly in the 'hot spots' of the arena.
After the in-hand work we went for a little walk and then I decided to pop him in the round yard to check how his trot looked after yesterday's hoof trim. I had seen his previous owner's idea of round-penning and I have no doubt this horse has been chased and frightened.  So my resolution was to make round yard work low-stress and to try never to jump at him or frighten him to move him around.  Unfortunately, after only a few circles he started to strongly object to going on the left rein, spinning outwards and stopping suddenly.  I only had a dressage whip and even though I managed to touch him with it at the right time a few times, it wasn't enough to stop the persistent spinning.  I solved the problem by getting 'big and bad' and using big gestures and quick body language to drive him around and prevent him turning in but after he'd accepted that and gone a few circles I soon stopped.  I really don't think scaring or chasing should have any place in the training of this horse.  After all, I want him to trust me and want to stay with me!  So I think I will stick to lunging in the arena with whip, rein and contact.  He showed absolutely no signs of spinning in when I lunged him on Monday so my gut instinct says he associates it with the round yard only.
The next bad thing occurred just after leaving the round yard when I was looking about for something to play with to do some more clicking and build his confidence back up.  I chose to try to get him stepping onto and over a large truck tyre that was nearby but unfortunately the second time he (very confidently) put his foot on the tyre it went straight through the rubber and his hoof became trapped!  All sorts of scary scenarios rushed through my head (including the image of a broken leg...) but after a little bit of worried dancing around, pulling the tyre a short distance, his hoof popped out and he stayed under control.  A couple of targets, some clicks and treats and I called it a day!
Some good and some bad today but overall I was pleased with him.  Less pleased with his dopey trainer, though!  Goes to show that you need to have a plan and quit while you're ahead!  Quite a nice photo below, you can see what a difference it makes having his mane squashed down by his rug!  Much more civilised!  He's a bit sweaty from the roller but you can see a few changes in his overall condition and shape, I think!

Week Four

The deed is done and the horse is moved.  My friend and student Kylie gave Fudge a lift in to the stables on Friday morning and his life suddenly got a lot busier (and scarier!).  Again, he loaded and travelled beautifully so it seems that that is one part of his early education which was solidly established and that he remembers. 
After leaving him to settle in, on Friday afternoon I re-introduced the clicker and took him for a long walk around the property including a bit of bush-bashing down to the dam, through the scrub and up to (and over!) some scary obstacles.   He was great!  Having the target and a pocketful of treats was really helpful for redirecting and refocusing him when he got distracted.  When he was scared he sometimes wanted to RUN and even had a near-barging-into-me incident when another horse unexpected appeared around a corner.  A sharp correction and then a quick target and treat and we were back on track.  He's a sharp horse with a quick mind and a well-honed flight response so I will have to be careful to train him to STOP and think when he gets a fright. 
Back at the stables, I introduced the small clippers and used the clicker to capture him standing still and accepting the noise and vibration.  I had a little audience at this point, with several people interested to see how the clicker could be used for this work and it turned into an impromptu demonstration.  Luckily Fudge was a good guinea pig and gradually accepted the clippers touching his shoulder and neck and then down his foreleg.  I didn't tie him up at any point, just clicked and treated when he stopped moving around.  He timidly targetted the running clippers, I clipped the feathers off one foreleg and left it at that with the intention of doing more the next day.
Feeling like I was getting to know his character and with these lessons in mind, I saddled up and had my first schooling ride at the new location on Saturday afternoon.  He was very tight and tense and I only walked and trotted, focussing on 'riding with my legs and guiding with my hands' which I find is a very useful phrase to remind myself of.  Fudge is not very forward going, despite being nervy, and is particularly light-mouthed and light-necked and I think has never been ridden with a consistent, elastic contact.  This makes things interesting, as he does crave security and stability and having someone 'holding his hand' certainly helps him be brave about approaching scary objects under saddle.  However, he has a funny quirk, which I will have to try and eliminate as quickly as possible, where he drops his head, bumps into the contact (as I'm trying to maintain my independent hand as still as possible) and then stops dead!  It's like he's giving himself a halt aid.  There is no conflict in it, he just lowers his head to the point that he 'finds' my hands and then thinks, 'oh, stop?  OK!'  Quite sweet, really.
I used food rewards from the saddle to reward particularly good efforts at anything, though I haven't been using a clicker to mark any particular behaviours under saddle yet.  It's more general so far, so, relaxation while standing next to something scary, letting me hang off the side of him to open the gate latch, going obediently near the rowdy horses on the other side of the fence and not being too distracted by them.
After his ride he had a good shampoo and again enjoyed being curry combed while soapy.  He's still got slightly dry, scaly skin but his coat is already feeling smoother and glossier.  I can't wait to clip off the yellowish sun bleached bits!  I pulled a bit more out of his mane and put him to bed in his new jute rug.  Jute is an old-fashioned fabric for horse rugs but I find it nice and breathable and has a good polishing effect as well as being not too heavy for our warm nights.