20+ miles

Yesterday my partner, my friend K, and I all hit the trails bright and early in the morning. I had wanted to get Navi across the street and ride some new trails. We had a little issue at the road and her not wanting to cross so I just got off and walked her across. No biggie. Once we were through the 1st gate it was time for me to mount back up, that took a minute as she was insisting on coming up on the hill with me. We got that figured out and we were off. We met up with some cows who found us non-scary and just hung out while we accomplished our 1st water crossing. Now Navi lives in her irrigation ditch in the pasture so I was really hoping crossing water would be an easy thing for her. K said she shouldn't have an issue,lol, as she is a water baby.  And she didn't, didn't even bat an eye. Good Navi! We decided to turn around as it was getting hotter and Navi was getting tired. As we turned around we made a rattle snake mad and it rattled at us, it was off the trail so we just quickly and quietly left the area. No spook in her at all with the snake. She was a little rushy going home trying to keep up with the two faster horses, but otherwise I can't complain one bit! For a horse that is just now approaching her 1st 30 rides she is doing awesome out on the trails. We of course have fine tuning to do, but she has been wonderful to ride.

My goal was to hit the 20 mile mark yesterday, we did that plus 2 miles :)  Off to hit the trails again bright and early today!

Navi and I continue/Self Doubt

Navi and I have been getting more rides in. Some good, some just ok. Saturday we lost all "gas" and her steering left a lot to be desired! But then Sunday we tackled 4.3 miles of hills, cows, turkeys, and "off roading" and she did amazing!
 See here is the thing, like I said before, Navi was a blank slate when she came home. She was to be my first start to finish horse. So when we have bad rides/days I have no one to blame but myself, however it works the other way too, when we have good rides/days I am responsible for that too. I suppose that is really no different than any other horse/rider partnership. Navi and I are finding our riding partnership now in this stage of our relationship and it overall is going great! So many days in this journey I was pretty sure we were never going to get there. The self doubt was huge. I knew I could do this, but there were moments when I really really really questioned myself. Had I gotten in over my head? Did I really know what I was doing? Could I really use clicker training to "break" a horse? All the things you have been told about horses growing up comes back real quick when you get scared and feelings of needing to "win"come out in due to the fear of getting hurt. Have I used pressure and release on Navi? Yes I have. We have done quite a bit of pressure and release work. Do I still mix it up with clicker training? Yes. Is it suppose to be that way in a perfect world? Nope. In a perfect world of clicker training there would be no pressure and release involved. While I am moving away from mixing the two training methods one step at a time it takes a while. It is a journey, one that is never ending. I follow people who use clicker training exclusively and some day I want to grow up to be them :)
 I have learned many new things on this journey of clicker training my horses:

1. It takes time, and lots of it. Training is never fast and it really does take a ton of time.
2. It is possible if you keep at it.
3. You can control a 1000 lb animal riding without a bit if you give them a reason to listen to you other than fear. 
4. Sometimes you will doubt yourself and at times others will doubt you, but don't give up.  

Well I am off to hit the trails with Navi. We shall see how today goes 😆

Our ride on July 2. Taking a break in the shade.

2nd Ride out on Navi

Yesterday my other half and I hit the roads around the ranch again. I walked Navi down the road to the huge new outdoor arena. We warmed up a little and then I hopped on. She hasn't ever been to this area so it was all new! She walked out like a champ. With the support of my partner we decided to try some trot work. She was a little hesitant at first, but then moved right into a nice even trot that was super smooth :) We did that for a few minutes off and on. She was awesome. It was nice to finally have the first trot under saddle out of the way. I was beaming with pride when we accomplished it. My partner is a great support and is super good about reminding me to watch my hands. I tend to nag and I needed to just relax and let her have her head. After that it was time for lunch. The ranch was hosting lunch for the poker run and clinic that was going on also. So we left the arena and rode back to the main area of the ranch. Navi was perfect for the ride back. She lead the way some and followed some. We accomplished our second bridge crossing! We rode right up to all the action where the cavaletti clinic was coming to a close, horses and people everywhere and she didn't care one bit. We tied the girls up for a break while we ate lunch. After lunch we got back on and did a little work over the cavalettis that were still set up from the clinic. It was super fun and Navi was one tired girl. We called it a day and rode back up the the tack room.

It may have taken us a lot longer than planned to really start riding, but in the end I feel like everything happens for a reason and this is no different. Every bump in the road, every set back, every moment that I questioned if I knew what I was doing had its reason for happening. Navi and I have had amazing moments while training and not so amazing moments. But I can say this there has never been a time when I pushed her to where she was truly stressed or scared and now it seems to have paid off. Last summer when we started to ride again and she started rearing up a little I always got off and started over. Why? Simply because I have no desire to get hurt or hurt her. Was she told no when she really threw a fit? Yes she was because again I like my safety.

I sat out on this journey to make Navi a trail horse through clicker training mixed with some traditional training. When we very first started I was still riding in bits, since then we have given up riding in bits completely. We are on this journey to keep learning and learning is certainly what we are doing. Navi has only worn a bit one time in her life and then I quickly changed my mind and never had her wear it again. We are riding in a side pull currently and it works great!

Our journey together hasn't been perfect, far from, but I can say I am proud that I have made a horse that is safe enough to ride out bitless in new areas on her 2nd ride out. Today we hope to hit the actual trails for the first time :)

Navi and I finally did it!

5 or so years ago I set out with the plans on buying a baby horse and taking them from start to finish myself. In late Nov 2012, Navi came home as a 1 1/2 yr old blank slate. Flash forward to now. She turned 6 this year and yesterday we took our 1st "trail"ride with a couple other horses. I can't believe come November of this year I will have owned her for 5 years! Wow, time really does fly!!

To say this road has been smooth sailing would be a bit of a lie. Her and I have had anything but a smooth ride up to this point. Navi and I have not seen eye to eye a lot of the time. But I just had to learn to listen to her and go with the flow. All plans have been thrown out the window about a hundred times. I was planning on starting her lightly on trails at the age of 4, but then as we know she tried to cut her leg off. That was a year of healing and not knowing if she was going to even come back sound to ride. So we dabbled in the world of driving. (Which I do plan on still doing) It was decided she was sound for at least light riding so at the age of 5 we started under saddle training again. Except this time around, unlike when she was 3, she was not easy to ride. She started kind of throwing fits when I would get on her. I feel like I changed the way we did things 500 times in hopes of finding a non-stressful way of getting her going under saddle. She pushed my confidence to the brink and made me think hard of ways to find a partnership with her. More than once I said I didn't think she was ever going to be a riding horse. In fact just this year in early spring, my partner and I finally just said nope her being a trail horse isn't going to happen. I made the decision to just focus on riding Pixie and enjoying the summer. Navi of course would never leave us. She would always have a home with me, but I decided to take a break from regular training. We were doing well for the most part, but I had to find my confidence and desire to continue to try and push through this road block when it came to riding. I have always struggled to find my way with Navi cause she pushes my buttons. And lets face it I have always had an easy out as long as I have had Pixie around to ride. I didn't need to push myself. Well then Pixie came up lame again in the beginning of June. I had 3 choices: 1. Not trail ride 2. Buy another trail horse 3. Step up to the plate and just ride Navi. Here is how this decision was made. It was quickly decided I am already poor so another horse was out, lol. I could go the summer without trail riding, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but I could also see if Navi and I could work this out and hopefully hit the trails. So it was decided it was time for me to just saddle up and ride her. I have great medical insurance, so heck why worry about it. I got my helmet and and last weekend I climbed aboard after months of not riding. I waited for the blow up, the rearing and or bucking. It never came...so ride two I waited again and it never happened. Then ride 3 this week. I pushed a bit more she got mad, pinned her ears, tossed her head,but never blew up. What happened here? Had I finally figured out how to connect with this mare and ride? Had I just gained my confidence and said the heck with it? I am not really sure I know the answer, but I do know I wasn't nervous one bit on her last night. I know I can ride and for the most part I can ride through a blow up. And well I have a helmet.

Why are all my horses slow??

So there we were on our 1st trail ride. We actually were out a bit farther from the barn, but I decided it was best to not take pictures and focus on my riding. Well up until the end when I couldn't resist. :) We rode over a bridge, she was perfect! We rode past horses in pastures that wanted to come see us, she did great! We tackled a tiny hill or two (really tiny) and she did great! I don't think someone could have ruined my excitement if they had tried really really hard. I could have cried when I dismounted at the tack room I was so happy! This moment was one I had waited for for a long long time. Our journey is far from over, we have so much more to do. And we will hit many more curves and bumps along the way while trail riding, but until then I am enjoying the moment.

Crazy Horse Owner

Everyone knows the world is full of "crazy" horse owners. No one wants to be one, but the truth is we will all become one at some point. 😊

I feel as though I have officially become one, lol. Don't feel bad for me, I enjoy my little stressed out world. However, you should feel bad for the barn employees where my horses are kept. Because not only am I a crazy horse owner of 1 horse, but we of course have 5. You know that means we are crazy times 5! Which means the poor people that take care of my horses are subjected to 50 thousand texts a week. All of which probably include " okay we are going to move so and so or can you check on so and so..." Oh yes, I am that person who freaks out and will text at 6:30am to please check on my horse when I am told the night before that he is sore on his feet. I am also that owner that decides to move their horse and then two weeks later needs to move her back to her original paddock. Or I need to dry lot my horse this month, but next month she needs to be moved to a different pen with more shade. The last text I sent Friday to the manager said "Don't worry I think I am done moving horses for a while" Ha! 24 hrs later my other half and I are talking about that we need to move Pixie to a different pen. I assume they know to no longer believe me when I say things like that, lol. I want my horses to graze 24 hrs a day, but I don't want them to get fat ( Hey that is kinda like me, I want to eat all the time and stay skinny??), lol. Oh and here let me have special hay boxes to feed my ponies out of so they can slow feed.

I keep my horses 47 miles away from my house, why? Well because I am that crazy owner and no where closer to me even comes close to my standards of care! Why don't I buy land you say and keep them at home? Because I can't afford to have such nice pastures for them. They need space to run, graze, have a year round live creek, and have shelter. I am sure if I do ever buy land and take my horses home every employee at the barn will be throwing us a good bye party 😝 Ok, I don't think they will be that excited to see us go, lol.

The first step in any problem is admitting you have a problem. No worries, I know I have a problem.

In all seriousness though, everyday I am so beyond grateful for the ranch that my horses live at. I couldn't ask for a better place or better people to care for my babies. Every time we go out there I feel blessed that we are able to call that place home for our horses!

Now I am off to get errands done so I can get the ranch early to figure out a game plan for where Pixie will be moved to. Pixie is lame again, so I need to find a perfect combination of somewhere she can graze, but not get fat again, but can move around more than her current situation. Willow has a cut on her neck that I want to check on. I need to get Navi dressed in her fly sheet now that she isn't in the big pasture with tons of shade to protect her from the sun. Jess and Char... well I think they should be good to go for the day. They will get their one candy cane they get each time we visit. It is super tough being a retired horse of mine. You have to walk to the fence when we arrive to receive your candy cane. What, you say, you can buy candy canes year round?? Oh yes, no worries you can always find them on Amazon or cracker barrel 😉.

Admitting Defeat

*Warning this is not a nice post* And it may ramble on a bit...

As a Positive Reinforcement trainer, I get my methods criticized all the time. And that is okay, because in the end it makes me a better trainer and friend to my horses. However, what I don't handle well is the never ending comments from people about how it is okay to be mean to horses because they are big and they can kill you. Some days I just want to say fine! I give, you are right. It is perfectly okay for us to be harsh and cruel to another living creature out of our own fear.

Below are just a few responses on Facebook after I posted about a horse being pushed past his threshold as the reason he went to bucking. Actually I will put my response and then follow it up with the comments. I am leaving the names out of the comments in response to mine.

Sarah Shipman "All I see is that poor horse getting spurred and yanked in the mouth because he was pushed past his threshold... Sigh. I know I am probably a lone in this thought, because it is always the horses fault never us humans that push them to that point. As usual I see fear and pain in the eyes of a animal and others see it as funny. Maybe some day humans will stop being so cruel, but I am not holding out hope. Don't want to argue with anyone... I have said my peace."

1) "Not really, kinda got to get after a big animal like that otherwise they're likely to kill ya. I'm all for compassion. But I know I'll sink a spur in ones side if they go to buckin on me."

2)" If ever in doubt about correcting a rank horse watch a herd establish its hierarchy___ was reaching back to try and bite ___leg and I didn't believe ___. So when I took ___out, sure enough, she reached back for my leg and after meeting the sole of my boot she never did it again. Horses are powerful amazing animals. For us, the joy of the ride with the powerful animals is being prepared for when things don't go quite as expected. I've never met a bombproof horse immune to a freak day in the ring or on the trail. It's part of learning to protect yourself and the horse when things get out of control." 

To me what happened in the video was the guy was trying to stick out a wild ride,but the real problem to me is the fact that the horse was pushed to that point. Only one other person watched the video and gave feedback as to why the horse was bucking in the 1st place. Everyone else was just impressed with the riders ability to stick it out. Which he did do a good job of staying on. As the person in the 1st comments states they are all for compassion, but... this is what is wrong with our society. There is always a "but" attached to the words compassion when it comes to animals. I will be very honest in this post and say it is days like today that I feel defeated. I see just how many cruel people are in this world and I feel like I will never make a difference. I want to plant a seed with as many people as I can and use positive reward training on humans too, but frankly humans make it hard!  I struggle to have empathy for humans because for the most part they don't have empathy for anybody else. I have given up hope that humans will ever have compassion for any other animal. 

I started writing this blog in 2012 when I got Navi 4 years ago almost to the day. I had hoped that in the last 4 years I would have seen a difference in how humans thought. But now I have my doubts that we will ever change. Although truthfully how can I ever expect change when you have big time horse trainers such as Clinton Anderson that openly say, sometimes you have to kick a horses ass to show him who is boss, and that he hopes the bit-less tree hugging people get themselves killed so he doesn't have to deal with them... AND people still give him money! So I finally admit defeat! I throw up the white flag. I finally understand how people that think like me become so bitter. So often others tell them they should be kinder to humans if they want to get their point across, but there in lies the problem. Humans don't listen to kindness. For a long time I was willing to be accepting of things that I wasn't really accepting of to seem not extreme and to not be thought of as the "crazy" person, lol. But I am over it! Call me crazy, call me dumb, call me a tree hugging crazy bit-less horse person. But all that is okay because at least I can't be called heartless and cruel. (when it comes to animals at least, I am the 1st to admit I can be heartless when it comes to humans) 

Meanwhile if you need me I will be out riding the trails with Pixie in just a halter( or maybe without) and I will be working on riding my 5 year old horse at liberty. Don't worry I will try to keep in mind that since they are big they might decide to try and kill me because I am not being harsh enough. Remember though I do have boundaries with my horses and require manners, odd I know since I use treats *gasp*. 

I leave you with this question...Why is it okay for us (humans) to cause pain to an animal, but it is not okay for them to cause us pain in return? 

Trail riding without the Halter!

Our 1st time on the trails with just a neck rope.

Yesterday my partner and I hit the trails with Willow and Pixie. It was the perfect fall day and the ride was awesome. In fact everything was going so well that I decided to take off the halter for the last part of the ride. After we made it down the very big hill I took off Pixie's halter. Well okay I first checked with my other half to see if we had a clicker with us. I wasn't going to trail ride at liberty and not have a clicker. Safety! After getting my clicker the halter came off and off we went. Okay maybe she had to eat a little grass before we could start walking, lol. I will admit when we came to our 1st downhill section I was a bit nervous. I had no reason to be as she was perfect as she slowly went down the hill. This was a dream come true for me and now I know the possibilities are endless. However as with every big milestone I discovered lots about myself and my riding.

Here is some of the things I learned:
1) I have control issues (okay, okay I knew this before, but it really comes to light on the open trail with nothing on the horses head.)
2) Control issues = micromanaging
3) I didn't realize just how much the idea of reins made me feel safe.

So yes, it was very obvious to me just how much I seek control when riding the trails and how much mental reassurance the reins give me. In the beginning every time I wanted to change direction I immediately picked up the neck rope instead of asking with my seat and legs first. Funny I would do this since I have ridden at liberty in the arena more times than I can count. But habits are ingrained in us!  I found myself once again trying to steer with the neck rope when we reached a spot where we had to cross the gravel road to get back to the grass (she likes walking in the grass) however we had to avoid ditch too. But I caught myself and put it down, and said ok Pixie I trust you to not put us in the ditch. And guess what we made it around the ditch, lol. As I knew we would,but as stated before I have control issues.  The first time she broke into a trot to catch up with Willow I once again went straight to the neck rope to try and slow her down. Oh wait that isn't her cue to stop when we ride at liberty. Ha...she did slow down but did not stop. Okay, let me try the actual cue...I took a deep breath and relaxed and she stopped immediately. Good girl for listening when I actually used the right cue! Good girl for making me use the right cue!

I found that when we got closer to having to cross the road to get back home I was nervous. Why? I don't know. As I told my partner I knew she wasn't going to run away with me, but for some reason having reins gave me a certain level of comfort. And I never realized just how much my mind relied on those reins. Maybe because I knew there was no room for error or not listening when it came to crossing a road where the speed limit is 65. It was crucial she listen. We approached, she stopped and waited for traffic, and then we crossed on cue. She was perfect. It was important that I made sure I used the right cues! By the time we made it back to the driveway to the ranch I was super relaxed and had figured out how to use the correct cues, lol.

 It was nice having my partner there to remind me to put down the neck rope. That the whole point of me riding at liberty was to not have reins of any shape or form, lol. Oh yeah... I guess that is the point huh. Funny how the minute you step out of your comfort zone you forget how to do things like ride with your seat and legs. Or as my partner reminded me giving up the last ounce of control is something I struggle with.

Here is the thing. It isn't or shouldn't be about control, it should be about a partnership. Seeking this partnership with Pixie is my ultimate goal, but to get there I have to learn how to give up the control and let the partnership happen. I am still learning about myself and how to become a better partner to Pixie. The feeling of riding at liberty on the trails was the ultimate high for me. It was something I never thought I would be able to do.  (On that note, please don't go out and try to ride at liberty on the trails without the proper training in place.)

The moment we started walking on the trail without the halter, I remembered back to when I was standing in the round pen in tears with Pixie thinking I am never going to find a way to connect with this mare. Yet I did, and here we were riding at liberty on the open trail :)