Pixie Learns Back up

Pixie has known back up under-saddle for a long time, but now she is able to back up with a cue so small that most people don't know that I am asking her to back :) It has taken us a long time to get this far in our riding partnership and we are still not  done growing as partners. For the last few months I have been working on getting her to back from the ground with me standing behind her asking her to target my hand. She is perfecting that and now we are transferring it to our riding. I ride her bare back to allow my cues to be felt easily. This is big for us because I do not punish the wrong answer, I simply ignore it. I will even reward her with a "good girl" if she is offering me something even if its not quite right. We started this back up with out any fear based training, now I will pick up the reins for steering purposes as we are not to bridle-less riding yet and I have to make sure I am not being unfair in my requests.  It is my goal to someday ride her without a halter, and we will get there, but it is a slow process for us. We have already come so far I could not be more proud of her. We very rarely ride in a saddle or bridle. Usually we are bareback with halter and lead rope. Yes, even on trail rides! I personally find arenas boring, so we are outside every chance we get :)

 Besides our riding work, our liberty work on the ground is growing by leaps and bounds too.  We have mastered our basics at complete liberty and our more advanced cues we are using a neck rope only. No halter required for ground work at all! ( No stick and string required either) I have decided I use a variety of methods, and while I have taken some great things from the "natural horsemanship" style, I hesitate to call my style of training by that name. Natural horsemanship training is nothing more than Negative Reinforcement training with sometimes positive punishment methods thrown in. I really rely on Positive Reinforcement/ Negative punishment training once safety is no longer an issue. The truth is we always go back to what we know and understand best and for me that is clicker training (which is always Positive Reinforcement). In my dream world I would become a clicker trainer instructor for people and their horses. I just don't feel the horse world is ready for that change overall. While there are a few big name trainers(which I love and follow) who clicker train, it just isn't the norm in the horse world, because people most times want faster results. And the sad reality is positive punishment training will almost always yield faster results because you have a animal that is scared to try anything new. Also with positive punishment training you will always need the equipment to control because horses are smart and they learn really fast that without the equipment you do not hold the power. I do not want a relationship that is only there when I have equipment, I want the trust all the time. In my humble opinion it makes for a safer horse when you don't rely on equipment to control, but instead have a trust in each other and clear communication.

Big Changes!

I waited to make this post until I knew things were official. We have been super busy at the barn because we are in the process of changing management. And the reason we are so busy is because we are the new managers! It is proving to be a lot of work...cleaning, changing things around, and getting the new paperwork in order. All while taking care of the horses that are still there. Some have left, but most stayed. We are looking to take on new boarders too, but that isn't until Feb 1st. Technically, we don't start until the first of Feb, but it seems we have started early because as of Monday the barn was turned over to us and the other manager. We will be working with him as partners. It takes more than one person to run this big of a barn, and we will all have our different jobs. We are the day to day taking care of the horses, and Bill will be the labor and money person. It will be a challenging new adventure for all of us!

The link to my website :)

http://livininadream79.wix.com/swiftriverranch

Show Me Your Barn- Blog Hop

   Share with us the following 5 photos:

1. A View of the Barn
2. Your Horse's Living Space
3. The Tack Room
4. View of Where You Ride
5.  Your Favorite Feature of Your Facility 

I love my barn for many reasons, but the biggest reason is because it is only 5 miles away from my house! The fact that it sits on a river and has super nice facilities is just a bonus :)

 The Barn...A huge indoor, 16 stalls, 4 tack rooms, 2 offices, and a viewing area above the indoor!  And its all heated in the winter :)

I love my pasture! It's plenty big and has lots of trees. 

My tack room (which is kinda messy right now because we are in the process of moving stuff around) We share this room with other boarders. I might have my very own tack room soon though :)

 The front half of the indoor arena.

This is the view of my outside riding! We spend most of our time outside during the nice season and enjoy the indoor during winter :)

This is my favorite thing about the barn...The trail riding! We don't have to leave to take a hour + ride some where pretty! We can cross the river and get lost on the island :)

Changes....

There could be some big changes on the horizon for us! It is not something I can go into as of yet, I want all the details worked out first. Hopefully things will calm done soon, and I can get back to regular posting.

Char gets more time off

Just as my life is starting to slow down and I was going to start riding Char again I get hurt :(  My lower left arm got bit pretty good by a dog at work. It's bad enough that my whole lower arm hurts and I can't risk a fall on it. Oh well...at least I can still ride Pixie, Willow, and Jess :) Pixie and I have been working on steering without reins! Slowing but surely she is getting it. Lots of treats and time and she will have it down. I am off this weekend, which means lots of time with the ponies :)

Here is my bite :(

Back of my arm

Front of my arm