It worked!

Ride #11:
WOW, wow, wow. That feeling of complete pride and satisfaction is so incredible. Carolyn came to ride around with me in the pasture and everything worked out perfectly. We were nervous because the day before we really had to get after her to correct her behavior of darting off the wrong direction, and bracing at the end of the rope when circling. I was really hoping that she would be hyper sensitive, or scared/intimidated and not want to be there. But NO WAY, we must have done something right because she was amazing! Her tender sensitive nervousness had subsided significantly and I could throw a rope over her back, or throw the saddle on, or make a big quick movement and it didnt even phase her. Its almost as if shes thinking, "Ha this is nothing now, yesterday we did some crazy stuff and it didnt kill me".

Her circling game is not cured, but I believe she now understands what I want and occasionally gets cocky and tests me to see if im still serious about it.

I didnt introduce anything new on the ground, just revisited all the things I had taught her before. Then I hopped on and rode. She is pretty sensitive to my leg cues but doesnt feel scared of my legs touching her. Her forehand yields pretty good and her hindquarters yield super easy!

Doc and Lance were out moving water for irrigation with the tractor so I had Teva follow the tractor at a walk as her first job once I got on. She did wonderfully and actually wanted to pass the tractor cause it was going so slow. No nervousness there. So I worked on our trot. Starting with her head bent slightly to the inside of a circle in case the squeak of the saddle, jingle of the D-rings, of bounce of the rider (me!) surprised her. No negative reaction so I put her on a loose rein and had one hand ready to bend her at all times. There was one little dart forward for some reason and I had to bend and stop her for that, otherwise it went perfect. We did a whole bunch of trotting and following Carolyn and Jake around for a bit. Jake really wanted to go back and chill with Banner and Savannah and not be told what to do. I was proud that Teva was not effected by his energy when we were near him. Then I got brave and asked for a faster extended trot just by bringing up my energy and clicking to her. Perfect speed increase, so I did it 2 more times and got the same great result. She did not get emotional and was able to bring her energy up to go quicker and then settle right back down. That is when I felt ready for the canter.

I got her up into a fast trot and then catered in my body and kissed and after a few strides she matched the canter in my body perfectly! She only cantered a few strides but I was so happy and excited for that! So we tried it a couple more times and again got the same result. Not only did it feel great but, I had my wonderful friend there watching and apparently it looked pretty great too. Haaaa floating on success!

If it doesnt work, try something else

Carolyn and I played around with Teva and the plan was for her to Canter around in a circle and go over some of the cavaletties and if she is good with that then i would ride the canter for the first time. Unfortunately she had no idea what we were asking her. We would send her one way then she would stop and dart the other direction. Then she would hang back at the very end of the rope bracing and backing then finally darting off the wrong direction. So Carolyn worked with her about 30 mins and then I worked with her about 30 mins and the dang bugs were eating us the whole time.

When she would stop I tried to gently direct the rope in the same direction she was on but she would then jump off the wrong way, and when I would block the wrong direction with the stick and string she would pull way backwards. Then she would stay pulling back at the end of the rope so I tried just backing her and sending her one direction at the same time. Hoping that when she gets tired of backing that she would "escape" the direction I wanted. That way she feels like it was her idea. That kinda worked a couple times but not super well.

Then I tried putting my back against the fence so that when she would do a circle and stop at the fence I could direct her and she would have no other option but to go the way I was suggesting. I did half circles back and forth and back and forth, then stepped about 15 ft from the fence so that she could squeeze through and not have to stop and go the other direction. Making the full circle the easy thing to do, and if she would stop and dart off the wrong way then I back to the fence and reteach her what my send means. Then allow her to do a full circle. That also worked okay and I think she developed some understanding of my "send" cue. The only issue is she would still hang back at the end of the rope.

So the other thing I tried was when she would freeze back there is I would point with the rope the direction I wanted. Give her a minute to think about it and if she didnt move then I would chase her while directing her to the side and tag her if she did not go. That way she can't brace and could not physically go the wrong way. I would also keep her on a shorter 15-20ft length of rope so she could have enough freedom to move and make her own decisions but short enough that I can correct the wrong ones easily.

Eventually she would circle 2 laps each direction without stopping so I called that good enough for now especially since it was 10:00pm and we were working in the dark.

We can just hope she learned something from it all and I didn't terrorize her.

Better than nothing

Ride #10:
She was pretty distracted but did okay and tolerated me. No blatant objections. It was dark when I rode her so that limited me quite a bit but it is better than nothing. Did a lot of casual following the rail in the arena.

Traveling down the road to Success!

Ride #9:
I am on the road to Success! She has now totally accepted the saddle and rider. We played around in the pasture because the arena was full and that was probably the best thing for us. She could be around Savannah and Jake which reduces druthers. They were running around like crazy, dodging mosquitoes so she did not want to get too close to them. So we wandered towards the back of the pasture. We walked and trotted and I felt like she had totally accepted me and the saddle on her and it was just a matter of deciding what to do next.

At first I only would ask her to trot when turning so I could quickly bend her to a stop if she needed it. Then we moved onto me having one hand on the reins and horn, and the other on the rein that she was more likely to turn towards. I would switch hands depending on which direction she was going. That seems to work pretty well because I am totally prepared if she does anything. The hand on the horn will keep me in the saddle and ensure I am not micromanaging her. The other hand is always ready, and in position. So we trotted and then she would walk after a bit, then id ask her to trot, and then after a while she would walk again. We will work on purity of gait later. Right now the transition is what im concentrating on, and she would go into the trot fairly easy with me just bringing my energy up and clicking. When she didnt understand the trot cue I would tap my leg and that was enough to get her going. She really did great and im so proud of her.

Just another day

Ride #8:

Limited time so we worked in the round pen on circling and then I hopped on bareback. She doesnt mind me up there at all, but Banner was eating and she did not want to go around in circles so our impulsion was nada. It was an ok session, nothing bad but nothing great happened. At least we were able to spend some time together and develop a better relationship.

Fixing suppressed fears

Back to the drawing board, I definitely missed something. She is still unconfident with a lot of things. So I spent some extra time fixing her fear of the stick and string and fear of things going over her back, and flying around her, and the saddle of course. I think I only had her at 70% acceptance before and I though that was good enough to move on for now, but it is not. She needs to know 100% that she should not be afraid. Otherwise she'll hold it in and blow up.

Carolyn helped me see when she relaxed when saddling and then I had her trot over poles On-Line and eventually at the canter and it was incredible. She had no need to buck because she was so concentrated on what I was asking her to do. She would do these amazing canter leaps between poles. It was just beautiful to watch her put so much effort in. Carolyn's wonderful grandkids were there too, cheering Teva on and that made it more fun for us. Teva also kicked the big ball around and tied to itch on the ball, unsuccessfully I might add. She was doing perfectly so decided to end it there and hope she remembers that feeling. I know I will.

Lots of trot

Ride #6:

Just great all around. I didn't do anything real big and crazy to scare her. She does not like the carrot stick at all and gets tense and scared every time I pick it up. So that's something we need more work on. We did walk around and trot after Carolyn and Savannah and she seemed to do fine. Then they left and we stayed walking around and trotting around the arena and she did want to go eat the weeds but for the most part did awesome.

I am trying really hard not to micromanage her and only pick up the reins when I want a change. So I was on the bareback pad and would hold onto the loop and middle of the rein with the outside hand and had the other one ready to pick up and turn or shut her down if she objected. That seemed to mostly help me from being too quick about grabbing the reins. I was super happy with her and cant wait to try the canter.

Windy day

Ride #5:

Last Wed was a windy day and she was spooking at everything. It had been about a week since I worked with her last and I was going in there thinking ok time to step it up. If shes scared of hummingbirds get her used to eagles. That did not go so well and she continued to skirt away and jump at everything. It took forever to get her to relax.

Finally I got her to the point where she wasn't so nervous and then I got on her saddled. She actually did a lot better once I got on and just cruised around. We didn't work too long but long enough to make a little progress on some things.

I think slowly progressing and stepping it up a little at a time is what she seems to accept the best.

Circles and some riding

Ride #3:

Had a limited amount of time so I picked 2 main things to work on. Circling and riding. So I got her to where she could go a little longer circling and worked on upward transitions. She is easy to get to stop, perhaps a little too easy. Then I hopped on with the bareback pad and worked on our cue to go and had 2 reins this time. She is not very motivated to go but I did get a trot here and there with a lot of encouragement. I think I need someone in the middle with a long line cueing the trot so she can get used to me riding and so she doesn't get desensitized to my riding cue for go. Once she is used to me bouncing on her back then if I can follow another horse and walk, trot, canter with them that would be great. Got a little more understanding with the hind quarter disengagement too.

First time in the saddle

Ride #2:

First thing was to put the bareback pad on and she had no issues with it, so I figured we do all the groundwork with it on. I worked on her circling game and got her to canter both directions. Now it was time to step it up and get closer to saddling. So I tied a lead rope to the bareback pad and had the heavy clasp end dangle and bonk around while she was running around. She definitely didn't like it at first but then got used to it.

So then it was time for the saddle...

She was fine with saddling, and cinching so I went ahead and had her walk around to give her time to feel the difference and get used to it. Then I went ahead and moved her up into a canter. She did a bunch of hops and jumps and little bucks but finally settled into a rhythm for half a lap and so I gave her a break. Lots of licking and chewing. Then off again the other way with a little less bucks and jumps and was able to get a couple strides of a nice canter a little quicker. She was super sweaty and breathing hard so since she was happy to just stand I figured that it would make a great time to practice mounting.

Up and down and up and down and she did not seem to mind at all. She wanted to go play with the other horses and that was our main distraction but me jumping and standing in the stirrup was not an issue. So on I went and we ended up riding around at a walk practicing the cue to go. Stopping was easy, getting going is harder. We ended at a great note and next time hopefully we will trot and have reins on both sides (as long as I can control my urge to pull on both and use one at a time).

Our first steps together

Had our very first ride and it went so well! She did great. I rode bareback at just a walk and with one rein so we would turn one direction and then i would flip the rope over her head and turn the other way. This way I am never pulling on both reins and making her claustrophobic, or ruining the cue for stop and back.

It was just a few steps and then stopping and and turning and a few steps the other way and turning until we could walk around casually for a bit. Then we were done. That's it for the day as far as riding goes. Then we played a bit on the ground again and called it a day. I don't want to overwhelm her.

Laying all over the place

She has accepted the bareback pad completely, and I did everything with it on. Layed all over her back and can jump up and down on her without her moving or caring too much. Layed on one side, then layed with my feet on her bum then slid off the other side. She seems to be getting pretty comfortable with it, but nobody else was at the farm so I didnt want to sit on her just in case she bucked and I had nobody to help me.

Taught her the circling game, and did a little better at backing yo-yo. The draw is still non existent and she resists coming in a lot. Ended on a great note and cant wait until next session.

Bareback Pad before Saddle

Let her out into the big pasture to play with Jake and Savannah. Savannah is definitely letting Teva know that she is tired of being the bottom of the pecking order. She chased Teva around and around its a good thing they were in a large space.

Tried the bareback pad on her and she did much better. Still a little nervous about it and bucked once but this is definitely a necessary step before the saddle. Left the latigos long on either side so they would dangle. She is connecting to me better and for longer periods of time. Love this lil' girl already.

Trimming time

The farrier came out to trim her today and she did pretty good, not perfect and a little wiggly but there was no dust kicked up. She did step on his foot, but luckily I have an awesome farrier who kept his calm and did not freak out or get mad at her.

I will definitely be stretching her legs around at funny angles to get her more used to that.

Dont forget to break it down

Ok so I saddled her for the first time and let her walk around with it. I figured she could get used to it more and more as we worked on everything else. She did great... until I made her trot. I think I am trying to progress too fast. Lots of bucks and the saddle flies up onto her withers and neck no matter how tight it is. So I couldn't let her just go to figure out that she can't get it off, cause she could, or it would slip around funny. By the end she was so scared that she would do one or two steps and buck and Ill get a couple more steps and buck. I definitely made a step backwards. We ended with a still nervous walk but a walk without bucking so that was the best ending point I think we were going to get.

I should have saddled and unsaddled many times before even asking for the trot. Next time ill try the bareback pad first. I keep telling myself take the smallest steps possible and make sure and give her a very clear release of pressure so she knows there is a right answer.

When I make tiny steps she is so chill and learns quick. It is deceiving because it makes me think that I don't need to spend so much time preparing her for things, but apparently I do need to take those tiny steps adding a little at a time.

Happy healthy horse

All righty. I got all of the shots and dewormer ready for her. I had someone help me hold her because I had no idea how she would react to the shot. My first jab was pitiful because I dont want to poke too hard, but it wasnt hard enough. So I had to re-jab and she flinched but didnt move or freak out.

Check, that was Easy!

Seems sweet

She seems curious and slightly interested in everything going on. She is definitely in heat and Jake is very interested. Savannah doesnt want her to come too close to her or to anyone else, or possibly loves that there is a younger kid around so she doesn't have to be at the bottom of the pecking order anymore. So funny how they react to each other.

I did a lot of friendly and just getting to know her and touch her everywhere. I did a lot of introducing her to different objects and rubbing them all over her body. Teva was a little apprehensive of everything but not overly so. Seems like she is a real level headed horse who has been handled well as she grew up. The breeder did well by her.

The decision has been made

Okay. This was my only visual of her before I agreed on a trade for my beloved older horse Scout. Yes I drove half way to Salmon, ID with a trailer (thanks Carolyn for letting me borrow it!) to get a horse I had never seen in person. Yikes. I did have a bunch of people look at her bloodlines and the video to see if they saw any potential problems and I got the green light everywhere I went. So I went for it, but something about her really drew me in even without other peoples opinions of her. When they agreed to make the trade for her I was so excited, I felt like I had won the lottery!