A chilled Filly

Thursday 30 December 2010

Sitting on Filly

Yesterday was a good day.
Played with Filly first, some time before she was fed. She started in a bit of a RB mood, finding the end of the school with open slats to the outside particularly frightening. I largely cured this by making it the place of rest during the playing. We did lots of travelling circles at canter and just "happened" to stop and rest at the spooky spot each time. Soon this became her preferred end and she became nicely LB there.
Having sorted this out I moved onto the preparation for riding routine again. I'll write it out one more time

1) Have the horse catch you
2) Halter with savvy
3) Touch all over ( I groom her)
4) Place the feet (pick them out at the same time)
5) Get a good stand still
6) Saddle with savvy (except I'm riding bareback !)
7) Move her around to ensure that the girth/cinch isn't worrying her
8) Do several direct rein/ indirect rein yields on a circle to ensure that I have the power to stop and direct her
9) Couple of rope arounds to get good lateral flexion of the neck
10) Mount her.

This sounds like a lot of steps just to get on your horse, but it ensures that she is in the right frame of mind before I get on, and I have a semblance of control. I intended to wait until Ritchie was in the school prior to getting on, but as I stood on the mounting block she nicely positioned herself and it seemed rude not to get on at that point. Prior to mounting I gently rock her so that she puts her feet in a stable position making her less likely to move off as soon as I get on. Now keep in mind this is bareback so I have to sort of vault on which is kind of a sudden movement. During the mounting she barely moved, She seemed to stay completely LB and relaxed. Her head did come round to see if she could bite my toes of course, such a conveniently placed target must be irresistible to her ! Swinging my leg gently dissuaded her. We then just sat there and relaxed. The look of surprise on Rithcies' face as she came to the gate was great. I was also pleased that the sudden appearance of another person did not cause her to move at all. After a minute or two of giving her withers a nice scratch I got off to let her rest and think about things.
Mounting for a second time she did move a few paces, but she reacted well to a quick lateral flexion and took advantage of her head being near my toes to have another quick nibble. Once she was stopped and relaxed I got off again.
On the third ride I decided to see what her reaction would be to asking her to do something. The obvious was a hind quarter yield. Applying gentle pressure on the lead rope to get lateral flexion, twisting my body so that I was looking down at her hind quarters and then swapping hands on the rope so that I could use my hand to gently tap her hind quarters she took a gentle step sideways, at which point I relaxed and petted her. Throwing the lead rope around her nose the procedure was repeated on the other side, again with complete success.
This was an important milestone. I have just sat on her in the past, but upping the pressure to asking her to move whilst mounted and still having a very calm Filly was a big step.
Ritchie commented that she looked very calm and even a bit "proud" if horse can have such an emotion. I have also noted a huge change in her attitude towards me on the ground. No attempts at biting at all. Her new habit is to put one nostril right next to my mouth and breath with me. I hope this is a good sign !!

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Billy frightened of his own shadow

A good days training today. Started with Filly with the intention of riding her. It was only about an hour before her dinner so she was not in the quietest of moods.
She is now very confident in rolling when I am close to the extent that as she tries to roll over I have to be careful not to get knocked by a flying hoof. Today she "exploded" as she got up with shear exuberance. This is fairly common and I have to watch carefully as she stands again to see what sort of mood she is in or risk being run over. To date she has always been careful to run around me, but I don't want to take any chances.
I turned this outburst of energy into a circling game which I continued until a bit after she had had enough. Thus I am not shutting her down and being the bad man saying no all the time, I am allowing her to do what she wants but asserting my dominance by making her move for just a little longer than she really desires. This calms her down really quickly and gets her in a learning frame of mind.
Next came the modified figure of eight game which enabled me to check all the driving games were working well, which they were. Then I moved into the preparation to ride.
This starts with getting her to stand still and be touched all over. To give this a purpose I gave her a quick groom. Then came placing the feet to establish control over each hoof. Again purpose was generated by picking out the hooves. Next would normally come saddling but we aren't using one at the moment. I then ask her to move around and establish the fore quarter /hind quarter yield pattern which she is getting very good at. Initially she tried to come through me when asking for the forequarter yield section but she now nimbly skips around out of my way.
At this point the feed wagon arrived and Filly got very very excited. Thoughts of riding were dropped, but with the yard girls watching a bit of showing off at liberty ensued. Not her best session, but still, compared to a traditional horse, pretty good for a 2 1/2 year old.
After a break to catch my breath Billy was brought in.
I wanted to do lots of circling with him to get him more relaxed and confident with a simple task. All I am asking for is him not to change gait, not change direction and look where he is going WITHOUT me continually nagging as many people do when lunging their horses. Ideally having set the direction I just stand in the middle and pass the rope around me as he circles. Should he break any of his responsibilities then I correct as gently as I can but as firm as required to get him back on track. To make this more interesting I ask for the occasional change of gait from walk to trot and back to walk. Walk to trot is easy, just requiring me to raise my energy and extend my arm in the direction of the circle a little. Getting him to walk again is trickier. Gentle wriggling of the rope applies pressure on zone one which should slow him down. I also have to make sure that I am looking in front of him and my belly button is pointing in front of him. That way he is having to push into all sorts of pressure. Unfortunately horses have what is called opposition reflex, they tend to push into pressure. That pressure maybe a lions claws, so pushing back is probably a good idea, but not what we desire. As a result applying pressure in zone one tends to make him speed up as he pushes against it. The wrong thing to do at this point is take the pressure off as it would teach him that pushing works. Thus I have to keep the wriggling, gaze and if needed a gentle waggling of the stick and string way out in front of him going until I get the desired response, or the slightest try in the direction of the required response. This could just be a slower trot or walk rather than the change of gait I desire but it is always a good idea to reward the slightest try and refine later.
Now to get to the subject of this blog. On a right circle Billy kept spooking at the same spot so there had to be something there to upset him. Now this part of the circle is where he is running towards a white wall with a big spotlight behind him. As he gets closer his shadow appears to run towards him and get rapidly larger. As horses vision is best in the black and white a shadow is a very large visual stimulus and so a shadow looming up the wall must have been quite scary for him. To start to overcome this I did the approach and retreat tactic, making him circle up to the point he started to be unconfident then backing away from it. Slowly we got to the stage he could touch the shadow and get curious about it. I then allowed him to just "play" with it. It was actually quite funny, from a human point of view, watching him try to sniff it, touch it etc. We are not over the problem yet but well on the way I hope. Using the philosophy that we always train for tomorrow I was pleased with the progress.

All in all a great day !!

Monday 27 December 2010

Progress report

Christmas is over and I finally have time for a quick update, not that the horses have had time off ! I had to go to Calgary on Christmas afternoon but still managed a quick session with Billy. Ritchie was already in Chicago so I had a little spare time !

To start with Filly is getting much much less dominant at last. The key has been total consistency in responding to her dominance attempts. Not only in the school, but in all my contact with her. This concept is important. To Filly all contact is of significance, but it is easy for the human to only focus on the contact within the schooling environment and let things lapse in the stable and even when leading around the yard ( to and from the field for example ).
Any attempt to nip is met with a reaction from  me that matches the phase she has used on me or is a little stronger. To start with this was usually requiring a fore quarter yield out of my space, but today it had reduced to me just having to up my body energy and maybe raise a hand if her head came towards me with that predatory look. The challenges were still regular of course but not as aggressive. I reckon they have reduced to no more than one every 5 to 10 seconds which is a considerable improvement.
As to the other games I play they are going very very well. I invented a new figure of eight pattern using 3 obstacles in an L shape. Unlike the normal 2 cone pattern which is very predictable the 3 cone pattern means that Filly has to ask the question at each cone as to which side to go. Thus rather than her just doing the pattern like an automoton she has to look for and react to my direction at each cone. This resulted in a much more interesting game for her and gave me the opportunity to direct her motion which as we know is a major way of gently asserting leadership and dominance over her.
I also spent a long time sat on the low mounting block. I did this to test that I still have control when I am much lower than her. To start with she tried to take advantage of the situation with more nipping, but quickly learned that my apparent stature did not change the nature of the relationship. By the end I had her circling on the 12 foot rope and even changing circle direction all whilst I was sat down.
Just to add more significance to the session today Ritchie was playing with Bonitao in the school at the same time, but with a few minor instances I managed to keep her attention on me the whole session. Ritchie and I now have a few days off so I hope that if all goes well the riding training can progress.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Billy more confident. Filly less dominant

Qucik note today as no much to report.
Played with Billy to start with as we can have 2 horses in the school at the same time. So Billy and Bonitao were bought in. Ritchie had a lovely session with Bonitao and I played with Billy. Playing with more than one horse around is good for teaching Billy to maintain concentration on his herd leader, me (sometimes !).
A previous session had Billy being very unconfident but then there had been snow blowing through the indoor school, he had not been out for days and just generally felt unhappy with life. Yesterday they all went out in the fields and as a result he was a different horse. It is important to remember to play with the horse that turns up and not get frustrated because they are not the same horse as yesterday. As a result when he was unconfident I through my lesson plan out and did an impromptu confidence lesson, but yesterday after a quick evaluation I could continue with the lessons needed prior ro backing him.

As for Filly she was much much better, probably partly due to a day in the field. I did all the usual preparation including placing the feet, touching all over but emphasising even more the fact that she moves her feet and I stand still. It is a good exercise in control to try and pick out all your horses hooves making sure that at least one of your feet is anchored to the spot. Even when you change sides ! Same for touch all over. Can you groom your horse without moving your feet ? The principle behind this is control of the horses movement. Don't forget that many of the horses games are lost by the horse that moves its' feet first, so I am mimicking this behaviour and making sure I win.
We then moved to the online direct/indirect rein exercise, but to generalise the submissive behaviour I handed this over to Ritchie.
By generalise I mean that the behaviour should be fixed in different places and with different people. At least 3 or 4 different locations should be used and ideally 3 or 4 people. We can only use one location at the moment due to the snow and only Ritchie is available for the other person !
It was interesting that she also had a few dominance problems, with some spirited attempts to kick her, but after 20 minutes of playing this passed and Filly assumed the same submissive attitude she now has with me. To end the session I had a bit of fun at liberty with her, with just a few little dominance challenges, soon corrected. I am getting more confident that we are moving in the right direction with her and she is going through a stage where she not only needs but wants a little bit if firmness in her training to feel that she has a leader.
We have to balance the "Love, Language and Leadership" trio and at the moment she needs more Leadership. It actually seems to be helping the Love part as well.
Please don't think that I am advocating dominating your horse through fear and intimidation, I am not. However not showing firmness WHEN required and trying to always win through love does not lead to a balanced relationship. It does not demonstrate your leadership qualities to the horse and so the trio becomes unbalanced. There are other important ways to establish respect and leadership including being very provocative in the play, inventing new and exciting games, changing games rapidly (with a LB horse) and most importantly controlling movement.
With a horse like Filly this will be a continuing balancing act. She will always be trying to test her dominance. Every moment she is saying "Am I boss ?" No Filly "What about now?" No Filly "Is it my turn now ?" No Filly and so on. Believe me that previous sentence is exactly what playing with Filly feels like and I love it !! I must be a bit odd I guess.

Monday 20 December 2010

More Dominance games with Filly

First the good news. When I entered Fillys' stable this evening she was much more docile with only a couple of half hearted nip attempts, which a quick finger tip porcupine soon dissuaded. We then went to the indoor school and as she had been confined to the stable all day I let her at liberty for a leg stretch. After a roll she had a bit of fun and then made it obvious she wished to play. We had a great session with stick to me, circling game, circle reversals and even falling leaf all at liberty. As quick as I switched the game she reacted.
When it came to trot in stick to me there was a suggestion of dominance with a good deal of prancing and head tossing. Eventually she played all her cards and gave me a nice kick on the left thigh. Phase 4 from her resulted in Phase 4 from me and I managed to slap her hind quarters with the Savvy string as she went past. This was quite a shock to her, she obviously had thought that phase 4 was her domain.
Now you would expect that after doing this to her she would run away and not come back, and if I had done this without provocation this would almost certainly have been the result. But horses respect someone who matches phases with them as long as it is done within around 3 seconds. After that the incident is over in their minds and any action on the humans part is considered unjustified. After a quick run around she came back and stood neatly by my side again. More stick to me to try and provoke another reaction, which duly occurred.
Another "correction" with the savvy string. More running around and again she came back to me. After each correction I made a point of dropping my energy right down rather than staying tense and high energy. Being able to use high phase and the instantly erase the incident from my mind I find is very important. It is what horses do with each other. A quick correction then back to grazing with no hard feelings.
On this occasion there was a noticeable change in her attitude. Her head was in a lower more submissive position and she stuck to me like glue. We did several more minutes of gentle stick to me with particular emphasis on turns towards her. Very nicely done with no dominance at all. At last I came to a halt and she just stood calmly next to me with lots of licking and chewing as I gently scratched her.
Halter back on for the journey to the box, but it really wasn't necessary

Sunday 19 December 2010

Overcoming a dominant Filly

It is now very cold here. -16 c as I write and -6 as we played at the yard. But still and dry so with exercise it was possible to stay warm ! Due to the cold weather and deep snow the horses had not been let out today so they were all getting a turn in the indoor school. As a result I could only play with Filly for around 20 minutes.
Waiting in her stable for my turn it was obvious that she was in a very dominant, biting mood. One of the girls said that she had reared at her earlier. Filly really does not do well on box confinement and is also in season, but that is only making excuses for her and this behaviour had to be dealt with.
We had a fine time in the box with her attempting to crowd my space all the time and bite, but keeping a watchful eye on her teeth and legs I stood my ground and made sure that she was the one who always had to back away, mainly using fore quarter porcupine with my fingers. In the box this was a bit of an extreme sport though and so I was glad when the school became free.
On entering the school I started with the YoYo game to make sure that I could back her out of my space. This went pretty well but she obviously thought that as games go this was a bit boring, so I switched up to circling game. Again this was ok but not really tackling the dominance issues.
Next I moved onto travelling circles. These make her think and so give her little mind less capacity to dream up mischief and also was a stepping stone to the pattern I really wanted to use, the Falling Leaf. This is a travelling circle but with a circle reversal every half circle so that she circles in front of me and to the side, but never behind. On the turn reversal she turns towards me and as I am continuing to walk forwards she has to be smart in getting out of my way. To an extent this is part of the purpose of the pattern. It is making her continually move out of my travelling bubble of personal space. If she tries to push into that bubble or even brush me I then have to be quick to use the driving game with the carrot stick, my elbow or whatever else is convenient to move her out of my space. To start with she was very very pushy as she came past the front of me, teeth flashing and the occasional mock kick attack. Of course these high phases from her just allowed me to match her energy and make it uncomfortable for her to be in my bubble. In situations like this it is very important to stay calm and not harbour a grudge from the last pass when she "attacked" and you failed to react fast enough. If on the next pass she is good and you then get in a revenge for the previous pass she has just been taught that attack is good and passive is not !! DO NOT play this game with any emotion. Just pretend to be a robot reacting as needed then immediately forgetting the past. Remember this all has to happen whilst walking with focus, giving the "aids" to change direction, swapping hands on the rope and stick. It takes practise, some of which I have done in the past using mental visualisation techniques, and some on less dominant horses like Bonitao and Billy.
As we played a change suddenly happened. She was no longer in my space on each half circle, mouth was actually shut (!) and no more little kicks. This took maybe 10 minutes and many passes up and down the school, with the odd full circle thrown in to keep her concentrating and not making assumptions about the pattern. The change was profound, and so mine had to be as well. I became much quieter with the "aids" and the stick stayed neutral. At last she found a position of peace, and she actually looked quite relieved about it. The ears were still pricked and mobile, eyes blinking and soft so this was not a fearful surrender. She had temporarily found a leader who did provocative games and defended his space as a herd leader should. That is what most horse look for to keep them safe in the wild, and for a while I provided.
Leading her back to her box was much easier than to the school and as a bonus there was her food on the floor. Just to keep the dominance going that bit longer I prevented her from getting to the food for a few minutes until again she again softened, then I let her eat in peace.
I know this battle will have to be fought again and again as horse are always striving for dominance in the herd. The trick is to not let this anger you but just to accept it and work with it. The alternative is to beat the spirit out of her so that she fears me, but then she would no longer be Filly and that would break my heart. Her fiery spirit is why I find her such fun to be around and play with. Complete consistency on my part will I hope make the challenges become less frequent and gentler.............

Well I can hope can't I ??

Thursday 16 December 2010

 Cold day today. It took some fortitude to go to the stable! Not like the cold in the USA, but a damp cold. Still, horses still need training whatever the weather and so we arrived at the yard around 3:30pm. Started with Billy today as Filly gets fed at around 4:30pm. For around an hour before that she gets pushy and excited, not a good frame of mind for learning. It's a shame that all the horses get fed around the same time everyday as it develops and expectation in them and lots of stress. However on a large livery yard doing it any other way would be too difficult to organise so the trick is to be savvy enough to realise that there is a potential problem and work around it.
Billy is not that worried about dinner time so can be worked during the feeding frenzy. We started with all the usual games and then worked up to putting the bare back pad on again, but cinched a little tighter this time. We then played all the games again whilst I pretended that there was nothing on his back. The idea is for the pad to be as accepted as well as a rug is, and not to immediately associate it with being ridden. We also worked a bit on the hind quarter driving game, which was not up to speed. Once this was going well I started on hind quarter yield towards me. This is a very useful manoeuvre when using a mounting block. Rather than chasing the horse around the school with the block the horse is taught to approach and stand next to you when you are on the block. This has many advantages. The main one is that the horse is then used to standing still next to the block and so after mounting is more likely to remain still rather than immediately move off (a potentially very dangerous habit which many people let their horses develop). Hind quarter yield towards is achieved by lightly tapping the horse on the far hind quarter until the hind legs step towards you. Now Billy is kind of tall so this presents a few problems. To start I reached round his chest so that I could tap with the tip of the stick on his hind quarter. If he tried to move into the pressure then I increased the strength of the tapping, if he stood still then the taps were gentle, as soon as he even seemed to think of moving in the correct direction the tapping stopped instantly. Timing is of the essence.
Filly finished dinner and was in a mellow frame of mind. Time to work up to sitting on her again. This followed the usual formula and today included the fitting of the bare back pad. She was also made to move around with the pad on, finishing with the rope around manoeuvre to check that the neck flexion was working well in case it was required to stop on movement when mounted. Ritchie and I took it in turns to lie on her back for increasing lengths of time until she would stand still easily. We found during this exercise that it was actually easier bare back than with the pad. The pad was too sticky and prevented being able to smoothly slide on and off Filly. After removing it I again sat on her properly, but for a longer period this time. She did look a little unconfident, but did not move more than a few paces. I sat very quietly, trying hard not to squeeze with my knees, until her head lowered. Recognising a sign of relaxation and submission I rewarded this by quickly dismounting. A few more sessions of this and I hope that all signs of unconfidence will be gone. I know that this is very very slow progression by the standards of many, but this is the first horse I have trained and I am perfectly willing to take a very long time over it. As a reward, we finished off again with a session of Liberty which Filly loves so much. Another good day!

Home at last

Home a day late. Flying on standby travel means you have to remain flexible.
We got home yesterday afternoon and after quickly unpacking went to see the horses. Too tired last night to blog though !!
Yesterdays session mainly consisted of some friendly game with the "kids", but we did manage some tarp training with Billy. This consisted of gently throwing the folded up tarp on Billys' back and then wrapping the 12 foot line around his belly to simulate the girth, but one it is easy to release. He was almost completely unfazed by this and just stayed still looking around with curiosity. I have seen others doing similar things but keeping the horse on a tight rope. They are curious beings and it is only fair to allow them to see/investigate what is being done to them, so when his head looked round to sniff and chew the tarp on his back this was not discouraged. This allowed him to categorise the tarp as harmless and not worth running from, which was the desired result. Preventing the investigation would have lead to a feeling of claustrophobia and fear of the unknown. Don't forget that with women and horses first impressions are very important due to their phenomenal memory so make a new experience as pleasurable and nonthreatening as possible !!
Filly was a bit difficult yesterday, but then she is in season again and wanted to a) move and b) dominate. Remembering that the leader of the herd controls movement I used a) to make her move a lot ! We did loads of circling at trot and canter. When she asked to stop I refused and made her do several more circles thus asserting my "right"  as leader to make her move. Eventually the permission to stop was her reward and she approached me looking for comfort which I willingly gave. Thus using a) we overcame b) !
Today I was determined to build on yesterdays success. Filly first. She was even more difficult to start with today, so to demonstrate my trust in her I removed the rope and for the first time in a while we played at liberty. Remember the previous post on this. What a change !! After a few moments of exuberance she was my old fun Filly again. We ran around the school at liberty with ,almost, slide stops. Her ears came up and she really ENJOYED life. It wasn't perfect, but who cares it was so much fun. Even changes of circle direction were performed with ease. After a while I put her back on the rope for some more mounting block training. She willingly positioned herself next to me and I lay on her back several times. She was so happy with this I decided to throw a leg onto her back as well. No problem at all. Forgetting that I had no hat on I fully mounted her and she barely flinched. Then I asked for a neck flexion and with almost no effort her head came round and she gently chewed my boot toe ! Enough for one day so I slid off the opposite side. WOW, I have fully mounted Filly and she was completely cool about it !!
Trying to reduce my adrenalin rush Filly was retired to her box and Billy brought out. In short he was also a star. The training with the tarp was substituted with the bare back pad. After the usual preparation of 1) touching all over 2) placing the feet 3) rope around 4) hind quarter and fore quarter yields the bare back pad was repeatedly thrown on his back and removed. Once there was no reaction to this the girth was pulled under his belly and released several times. Finally the girth was tied in place with just a little pressure on the belly. He was then worked in the normal way. Circling, sideways, hind quarter and fore quarter yields, trotting, walking. Any motion that I can cause that might make the girth feel odd was made to happen. I want Billy to be totally happy with the pad before we try to mount him. Adding the sensation of a saddle and rider in quick succession would be too much for him to process in one go, so I am using the concept of "successive approximation". Using the concept anything new is introduced in logical stages, with each building on the next to approach the desired conclusion. It is very important to read the horse in this process, they are in control of the time line. Pushing too far or too hard will be counter productive. If the process is pushed until the horse gets really right brain and then the lesson is stopped the horse learns that right brain behaviour stops the undesirable stimulus and thus the reaction to the stimulus is fixed. Reading the horse carefully and pushing to just prior to this point is the perfect scenario for rapid progress but risks pushing a bit too hard, the best trainers in the business can do this reliably and that is why they train so effectively. For the rest of us stopping short of this point is the best policy. We take longer to get there but do it safer and with fewer self generated problems to fix.
In summary: A good day. First proper sitting on Filly and bare back pad on Billy ! 

Saturday 4 December 2010

Next update on the 14th

Hi All
Tim is going away on holiday for a few days so don't despair the blog will resume around the 14th December.
I hope I don't forget all the training in the meantime. Horses of course have a much much better memory than us and forget nothing. As I have mentioned before they can't afford to in the wild. They don't get repeated attempts at learning what is a dangerous situation (they get eaten!) so must learn and memorise situations very efficiently, whereas a mistake by a predator just leads them to going hungry for a day !
Snag is they also memorise undesirable (in our view) responses quickly as  well, which is why complete concentration when working with horses is essential to avoid accidental teaching the wrong thing. No texting on the mobile !!
Imagine how good your memory would be if the cost of forgetting something was to become a lions dinner.

Thursday 2 December 2010

Good day with both

Started with Billy today as he has been a bit neglected recently, save for cuddles ! Set up all the usual toys in the school, tarp cones etc. No sooner had we entered when two of the yard girls, Perry and Amy came in on horses that needed exercising. They were happy to ride around us, but Billy was more than a little disturbed by their presence. He was very right brain for a good period of time. For me this was very interesting. This is the second horse I have introduced to horses that are being ridden, and the result has been the same on both occassions. It seems that until they are exposed and habituated to it the sight of a predator on a fellow prey animals back produces a real flight response. Logical when I put it like that, but not obvious until you see it !! I wonder if anyone can comment on similar experiences, it would be interesting to get a sample of more than two.
It would follow that prior to riding a horse for the first time they should be exposed to as many ridden horses as possible so that they get used to predator on prey. I have read that horses with a stall from which they can see other horses being trained are easier to train themselves. Relating this to the wild this is obvious. Observing another member of the herd evading a predator, for example, should result in a learned response without direct experience. In the wild one mistake leads to death and no breeding. Behavioural evolution should therefore select strongly for those that have the ability to not only learn by experience, but also learn by observing others experiences.
I have to say I was very impressed by the way the girls managed to ride the various bucks/spooks that Billy provoked without being unseated.
After they left things calmed down a bit and I was able to continue with the lesson. Preparation for being ridden was high on the agenda, with particular emphasis today on standing next to me whilst I was on a mounting block. Apparently around 95% of all human injuries occur during the mounting/dismounting phase of riding. Getting Billy to stand still for extended periods of time next to the mounting block is therefore a vital if saftey on the first few rides is to be acheived.
After Billy I had time for a quick session with Filly. Again preparation for riding was uppermost in my mind and to that end I used James formula upto saddling (although I used a bareback pad). This then progressed into lots of motion with the pad on to get her used to the feel of the girth as she moves. All the usual games including sideways were used. We also did lots of playing with the ball, which I am sure she is going to puncture soon. It it a pilates ball and needs more air. At one point she manged to pick it up with her teeth and trot round with it!! Ritchie and I also had fun throwing it over her back, bouncing it on her etc. She just chased after it and kicked it around like a little cat with a ball of string. No right brain moments at all. This may all just sound like a laugh (which it is) but the serious point is to get her used to a large object bouncing all around her and on her back. One day that large object will be me !!

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Filly allowed out at last. More cuddles with Billy

At last Filly was allowed back into the big wide snowy world. Only a dusting here but cold. Apparently she behaved well with just a couple of frolics. Unfortunately I was not there to see the occasion as did not get to the yard until 5pm. However that was a good time for a quick play session.
Ritchie helped this time and we concentrated on the hind quarter to fore quarter yield using indirect rein to direct rein whilst online on the ground. Sounds complicated and so I will try to elucidate.
Whilst riding an indirect rein controls the lateral movement of the hind legs whilst the direct rein controls the front legs. To perform an indirect rein one's head is turned to look at the horses hind quarters the hand is moved up to the belly button on the same side as the reining hand. This should move the hind quarters away from the pressure of the gaze and we have a hind quarter yield (or disengagement). This is a great way to stop a horse without pulling on both reins (which doesn't usually work anyway !!). If the driving hind legs are moving sideways they can't be driving forward as well and so the horse circles to a stop. Hence why we want a really good response to this prior to riding. We can cause the same thing to happen on the ground whilst working online. To start, the horse is made to circle, I find at the trot easiest. Then putting the rope in the counter circle hand applying a little pressure in the opposite direction to the circle and walking and in towards and looking at the horses hips a pressure is created on the halter that mimics the indirect rein. The horse should then swing the hind quarters away from the approaching pressure and complete a turn to face you. Now we can complete the manoeuvre with a direct rein.
Whilst riding, the direct rein is used to turn the horse by moving the front legs laterally. First look in the direction you wish to go ( this automatically causes your hips to twist which the horse can feel), then extend the arm out to the side so it points the way to go. This provides pressure on the halter in the required direction and the front legs should move to follow the suggestion. Again this can be performed on the ground online. To continue from the point we reached earlier, once the horse has hind quarter (indirect rein) yielded so that they are facing you, extend the arm out to the side in the direction of the new circle whilst also looking that way, not at the horse. The front legs should now yield in that direction and a circle in the opposite direction started. If the front end gets "stuck" then raising the carrot stick to the opposite side of the head and gently waving it helps drive the front end around. This should only be used as an additional phase of pressure. The whole exercise is really about porcupine (steady) pressure on the halter, not driving pressure from rhythmic motion of the stick.
Done well this is a manoeuvre of beauty and satisfaction. To start with it looked more like a Laurel and Hardy sketch with ropes getting tangled round sticks, my legs and nearly every other object in the vicinity. Slowly with Ritchie's coaching it became better and more fluid. Switching from the 22 foot to 12 foot line really helped ! Even Filly seemed to have fun with it in the end with some very sprightly fore quarter yields.
We then checked her hoof putty and found some of it had come out, so the time allotted to play with Billy was now taken up salt bathing the hoof and replacing the putty. Thankfully she now has the idea that she should place her foot in the bowl and keep it there. Must watch her if we pass any picnickers when we go out hacking in the future !!


As a result there was no time to play with Billy, but a quick visit to his pen resulted in more lying down cuddles, even for Ritchie. He loves to bury his head right into my chest and between my legs as I kneel in front of him. As this deprives him of quite a bit of vision and puts the top of his neck in a very vulnerable position this must take a lot of trust. No sign of the difficult pushy horse I was originally warned about at the yard !!

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Less is more

Odd title but stay with me in this one.
It snowed here overnight so not a good day to put Filly out for the first time. I resolved to make up for this by playing with her twice.
The morning session was very pleasant with lots of the games she already knows to give her confidence in consistency and being out of her box. There were a few exuberant moments, but to be honest they were a pleasure to watch. It's so nice to see her having fun again.
Again I did lots of quick switching on the games to keep her occupied and interested. This seemed to work very well and we had a very rewarding morning session.
This evening I was at the yard again to play with both horses. Filly first.
She is still pretty dominant so I had to get very firm at times to counter her energy. The phases of pressure are applicable to training, but if she comes at me with phase 3 teeth I am not going to mess about with a phase 1 finger wriggle !! I match her phase plus a bit to reassert my leadership. This works for maybe 5 minutes with Filly whilst she plots the next form of attack. The snag from her point of view is that I can see the cogs wiring in her brain and so usually I am ready for the next attempt. This takes a lot of concentration on my part in reading her expression so that I am aware as to when the next attempt is imminent. We have been through this in the past and come out the other side, but I guess all the box rest has put us back a while.
I am really concentrating on the work required for riding her now and as a result the general thrust of the lesson is centered around the formula for riding as presented by Pat Parelli and modified a bit by James. I start with requiring a good stand still whilst I touch her all over. Who wants to mount a horse who has a touch point that results in a buck ? To put purpose to the touching I use a grooming brush to clean her off a bit.
We then move onto "placing the feet". I ask for each hoof to be lifted giving a chance to pick it out, tap on it to simulate shoeing, massage the leg to make it all pleasurable etc. Then MOST IMPORTANT I place the foot where I want it and persist until she relaxes the hoof in the requested place. This takes a long time with Billy, but Filly knows the drill and lets the hoof be placed anywhere I want. I was amazed at James yard when a horse had a bucking fit and he could identify which leg had initiated the bucks and it corresponded to the hoof that one of his assistants had problems placing earlier.
I then moved onto fore quarter and hind quarter yields using direct and indirect reins ( more on these concepts in the future ). At the moment these cause problems, particularly the fore quarter yields (consistent with a LBE). As a result we are not really progressing much past this stage, but there are many ways to do the required yields so it is not exactly boring. At the moment she does the yields but she either has a really snotty look on her face, or swishes her tail or tries to bite. None of these are what one would look for in a horse you were about to mount !! On a plus side the manners in the box are rapidly improving as a result of the resumption of the play sessions. Even the girls at the yard have commented on this.
After this session I spent a long time in the stable just doing undemanding but useful exercises such as grooming her tail. I have really taken onboard the concept that EVERY interaction with the horse is important, not just those in the training environment. In this case I was doing more "touching all over" and by raising the tail preparing her for future vet exams.
I then went to get Billy out of his enclosure to give him a play session. On entering the pen he was lying down and remained so as I approached. Bare in mind that he is an unbacked 3 year old highly bred thoroughbred and he stayed down. I approached slowly and knelt next to his head and gently stroked his face and neck. I then made a conscious effort to synchronise my breathing to his. After a few minutes his head lowered until his nose was on the ground and he briefly went to sleep (the snoring gave it away). What amazing trust, lying down with a predator and falling asleep. We stayed like this for 20 minutes or more with gentle stroking, him nuzzling my legs from time to time until I heard the call of the pub. I slowly left the pen, and eventually the yard, he was still lying down. The decision not to work him was a difficult one but I felt that the gain in rapport was way more important than more training in the school and wanted to leave I really nice impression on him for him to consider overnight. Hence the title !!

Monday 29 November 2010

Good news about Filly. Billy gets brave

Quick blog tonight as it is kind of late !
Filly has been seen by the farrier again and commented that it could not be going better. The covering is now removed and hoof putty pushed into the split. The split has grown out considerably and is now mostly covered by the shoe, so we have a reasonable chance of the putty staying in place. Should it come out we have to salt bath the foot prior to reapplying.
As a result I could take her into the indoor school for a bit of refresher training. It was suggested that I keep her quiet. A thoroughbred race horse that has been cooped up in a box for weeks remain calm ? No chance. But I did manage to restrict it to a couple of minutes of generally high exuberance, followed by some really quite nice trotting circles.
I then tried to keep that mind of hers busy with lots of game changes. Figure 8 to circle to weave to figure 8 to tarpaulin to stick to me, as fast as I could transition. Her curiosity came up at this and I started to become a fun partner again. I was so happy to have the knowledge to give her what she needed to become content with life again.
She had been getting very pushy and dominant in the box, but after 15 minutes in the school this improved dramatically. Not perfect, but much much better.
We have a way to go in Filly mind rehabilitation but at least progress can now be made rather than just damage limitation. The plan for the morning is to let her out in the field after some preparatory work to try and stop her going too mad. This should help her mental state enormously. The field is semi frozen at the moment which I feel is good news as there is less mud and moisture to get into the split.
So all in all a good day.
Oh and to cap it all after 3 days of gentle training Billy suddenly made a decision and walked onto the tarp as calm as you like within minutes of entering the school!! More about him tomorrow.
Goodnight.

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Filly getting better. Billy distracted

Great news about Filly. The farrier was back yesterday and thought the improvement was very very good. In fact he put the shoe back on, although it is still well covered up with padding and duct tape to protect it. As a result I was able to take her for a short walk, at least 50 yards, outside ! And let her graze for a while. It was a bit wet and the last thing I wanted to do was getting the dressing damp, so we grazed for only about 5 minutes, but it was a start. On the way back to the box a quick trip to the indoor school alowed for a nice roll. Whilst there I did a little stick to me game with particular emphasis on turning into her to get fore quarter yields. She had been getting kind of disrespectful in the box, probably out of pure boredom. Now I know it is her space, but I respect guests (well most of them) in my house and expect her to do the same in hers. Doing forequarter yields means that she is having to move out off and respect my space so I hope this will help in the overall respect issue.
I also took the time to do some more touching all over training. The main focus at the moment is control of the tail. I want to be able to move the tail to wherever I want it to be with NO resistance from her. This will be particularly valuable if the vet ever needs to inspect her hind end. I've trained the feet for the farrier, now it's time to train the rest for the vet. When the vet is called out in an emergency is not really the time to start this training afterall !! The horse is sick and stressed out already in this case so why add trauma when a few minutes each day can avoid the proiblem ?
We then got Billy in the indoor school for a short session. More desensitising training followed, but with the added distraction of another horse being lunged next to us. There was little actual progress but I was pleased that we managed to achieve as much as yesterday even with the other horse around. I was really concentrating on keeping him focussed on me rather than the pretty mare at the other end, which was also a valuable task.
In my view it is always important to adapt to the situation at hand. I went in with a certain lesson plan, but had to adapt my expectations in light of the distraction. It would have been easy to get frustrated in these circumstances but I turned it to my advantage. As a result I am sure that the next session will show more improvement than I would normally expect.
One thing James (see previous post) fines people for is a negative comment. £1 is the going rate. In this situation thinking of this really helped stay motivated and centered.
Don't forget one of Pats sayings "Expect a lot, Accept a little, Reward often". Now I understand this a little better.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Visit to James Roberts. Billy in indoor school

Sorry there has been no update for a while. I had to go to Calgary for work and managed a pretty, but very very cold walk up to Lake Borgeau. The radio was suggesting a windchill of -28 c ! Driving to the mountains I passed several fields with horses in. Of the 50 odd horses I saw only 2 had rugs on. They breed them tough up there.
Back at home Sunday was the great day that Billy finally had a home for the night. I arrived at the yard just in time to introduce him to the barn. He was a dream to lead up from the field, no need for a chiveny bit that had been used in the past. He settled in really well so we left him to explore his new home.
Very early next morning Ritchie and I set off for 1 1/2 days of spectating at James Roberts Foundation Station . Ritchie had been on a confidence riding course at Stoneleigh Park with him last summer and then a follow up weekend last month. She was very impressed with his facility and thought it a good idea to go and see him. How right she was.
James specializes in colt starting (which I really want to do myself) and helping problem horses and their owners. There is almost too much to report on the things he taught me so I will try to summarise them here
1) Have a purpose for your horse. In my case they will both be racehorses one day, maybe. So that will be my focus, but with a dash of reality I want to put a firm general foundation on them in case they don't make the grade. I would hate them to be put on the scrap heap early in their lifes just because they can't win races.
2) With a purpose a training plan can be devised.  As an example he had one guy there who is a polo rider  James was getting him to practise roll backs on line. Being able to spin on their hind legs and run in the opposite direction is not really desireable for race horses so this will not be a focus of my training even though it looks really good. As a result the plan has to be relevant to the desired end result and not get side tracked into doing stuff that looks great but has no relevance.
3) Always know why you are doing an exercise. I must be ready for Ritchie to ask me at anytime why I am doing something. This disciplne will let me visualise what I want the final shape of the exercise to look like and where it fits into the 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle of training. She may not agree with my reasons, but that is irrelevant, the discipline of having a reason is the point.
4) Stick to the riding  plan which step by step leads you all the way through your whole training day with the horse and gives a structure to the lesson.

There was much more than this. All I can suggest is that if you can only get there for a days spectating DO IT. I think it had such a large impact on me in particular as he has a similar way of thinking to me. The concepts are similar to those I have used in training for glider racing (strange as that may sound !).

On the way home this afternoon Ritchie and I sketched out training plans for Filly, Billy and Bonitao, each tailored to that particular horses needs and end purpose. For example I have determined to do a fair bit of confidence training with Billy as he is a RBE (at the moment) with the aim of making him LBE in time, whereas for the pushy little Filly this is not really needed !! Filly needs a firmer hand to reassert my leadership so that we can get her back into a learning frame of mind.
To this end on arrival at the yard I took Billy into the indoor school for the first time. I had all the toys in there, the tarpaulin, ball, cones etc. He was initially a bit wide eyed about all of this as I expected. In addition I had switched from using a savvy string on the carrot stick to a bright orange plastic bag. A lot for him to cope with in one hit but to progress I thought it worth the risk.
What a session, To start with I had to desensitise him to the bag, which was done in around 5 minutes using the classic approach and retreat method. This is easy of course with a bag at the end of the stick as a flick of the wrist acieves all the movement required. The trick was to remove the stick just BEFORE he became unconfident so this requires close reading of the horse. Of course I also walked away from him dragging the stick (predators don't retreat so it can't be a predator). This desensitised him whilst he was moving. I have discoverd the hard way that acceptance of an object when the horse is still does not mean it will be accepted when he is moving.
I now had a really convenient signalling tool. I find it easier to use than a carrot stick and string, especially if the horse is at close quarters.
Thus armed I moved onto playing with all the other toys. In particular the tarp. The technique here was to make the tarp a place of rest for the circling game. In essence I asked Billy to trot on circles and only allowed him to rest next to the trarp. As a result the side of the tarp transformed from a scary place to a sanctuary to be sought out. I did not force him onto the tarp but just quietly waited as he rested for his curoisty about it to kick in. On a couple of occasions his front feet brushed the tarp as he was sent on a new circle, which to start with invoked a big spook, but slowly they lessened until he stood calmly with his front feet on the edge of the sheet.
I also indulged in some figure of eight patterns to establish the stick/bag as a true signalling tool and also to give relief from the tarp training. A quick session of sideways along the wall and the training was over for the day.
He was truly fun to train today, very attentive with the distraction of the other horses removed, very open to new things whilst looking to me for comfort.
As for Filly, she is still on box rest. A quick bit of training to allow me to move her tail wherever I wished with no resistance from her was all I really had time for. Oh, and placing the feet as well of course before I get a rude comment from James !!

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Filly getting very bored

Poultice change delayed until 9:30 am today to give me a lie in ! I have a night flight tomorrow and need to shift my body clock a bit to cope.
She was very very difficult today. All the other horses in the barn were being taken out and she clearly wanted to follow them. I had to get really really firm with her, which I hate doing but sometimes "leadership" has to take over from "love". Finally I managed to get her to stand still briefly and we found that the poultice had come off again. We knew this was very recent as Rick had just checked her and she had it on earlier. My guess is that it fell off when she started getting agitated in the stable as the others left. Anyway with no infection barrier, however briefly we felt that a quick salt bath was required. I was left to try and accomplish this alone, so wound up spilling most of it. Second attempt went better, by which time she had calmed down considerably. The poultice was applied with no problems at all.
Rick and I then spent about 4 hours erecting new enclosures in the hay barn so that finally Billy and Spider (his field mate) can have some overnight accommodation. This is really good news as it means that I can play with Billy in the school without the worry of leaving Spider in a field on his own.
After lunch I returned to the yard to finish the enclosures and play in the box a bit with Filly. Today I concentrated on being able to handle the udder area, but was met with fierce opposition. Mainly cow kicking and teeth.
We had a few good battles, all of which I won but that did not stop Filly coming back for more. Basically as long as she is calm and gentle I play friendly game, but as her energy comes up I increase my phases to keep her out of my space. If she really comes for me with her teeth I wave my arms, block her with my forearm whatever it takes not to retreat. I make a point of trying not to move my feet at all (he who moves the feet away first looses the game) and if I do move them I make sure they move towards her and drive her away. After about 20 minutes of this there was a glimmer of a change. She now tried to seduce bits of me into her mouth with gentle licking and mouthing, but I have adopted a zero tolerance approach to this for the moment so as not to give mixed messages.
She still showed signs of discomfort in her bad hoof, but only mild, and according to Rick the poultice pulled very little infection out. We are leaving the current one on for 24 hours to see how much infection we get out then. Once it is cleared up we will return to iodine and sugar to dry the hoof out prior to putting her shoe back on. 
I hope this is soon so she can be let out again for the sanity of all at the yard including her !!

Tuesday 16 November 2010

A roller coaster day

Went to the yard for 9am, which for me is early, to help apply a new poultice. The first thing I saw was Filly with no poultice on standing in her box. It had managed to slip off during the night. I was very worried by this as standing in manure with an open wound did not sound like the best method of infection control. I rapidly gathered halter and lead rope and lead her out of the box, at which point Rick appeared. We decided that the hoof now needed another bout of salt water bathing. Today she was really good about this. She stood for a good ten minutes in the bowl without a murmur. Applying the poultice was also easy and we made sure that it could not come off this time and left instructions with the yard girls to regularly check and hit the panic alarm if it was missing.
I returned to the yard this afternoon for another poultice session and was met by Ritchie who suggested I ride Bonitao. More circling game with my eyes shut on a bareback pad to improve my balance. Felt much much better today.
After playing with Bonitao it was time to play with Filly. Just because she is in her box does NOT mean that she cannot have training continuing. Today I put emphasis on "orifice training". I am trying to prepare her for any future vet work that may be needed. Vets love orifices like nostrils, mount, anus etc to poke, prod and inspect. Reading Dr Millers book not enough people prepare their horses for this until it is too late so I decided to buck the trend preempt the problem. Approach and retreat is the name of the game, especially with the udder I found, which currently results in a cow kick. I'm sure the female readers will empathise with her !!
We also did some training with the bridle and bit which is becoming a non-event but will be kept up in any case.
The evening poultice was very very easy. Rick says that she is just getting used to it, possibly not realising the hours of foot training I am putting in in between sessions. Oh well, it is the result that matters !!

Monday 15 November 2010

Farrier comes to see Filly

I went to the yard at around 3pm for Rick to tell me that the farrier was coming at 4:30pm to see Filly. Time to prepare her !
I took her to the indoor school just to make sure that she was not going to be to feisty when he arrived. She gets VERY bored in the box and then the mouthing and fidgeting start. I was very happy to notice that she was barely lame at all as we walked to the school and circling her so I could study her hind legs also showed no lameness. Maybe we could have a proper play session.
I started with lots of stick to me with backups. They went fairly well but occasionally I had to windmill the end of the rope in front of her nose as I backed. I was not trying to hit her, but if she failed to backup with me she in effect moved into the rope. This was very effective and soon she was backing well with no rope whirling at all. Note I do not aim to hit her with this technique, and she has every opportunity to back out of the way, but IF she decides to oppose me then there are consequences. This is very different to hitting a horse as punishment, a concept they don't understand anyway and only gratifies the human.
Having reestablished rapport and leadership we moved onto some figure 8 with a pole between the cones to give her another obstacle to avoid and keep her thinking. Again this was very good and needed at most phase 2 pressure to get the pattern fluid.
We did have another nice roll with lots of rubbing all over. She seems to really enjoy this now.
To prepare specifically for the farrier I did a lot of playing with the very low mounting block, getting her to put her feet on it and then stand still. Not great but it enabled me to discourage more mouthing as her hoof was under my control.
All too soon the farrier appeared to take a look at her. We gave her a hay net and she stayed nice and still as the shoe and hoof putty were removed. The farrier then announced that she had a really bad infection that had gone under the sole of the hoof so he started paring some of it away to release the black muck. (Remember I had found some of this a few days ago). During this investigation he noticed an infection filled hole going up into the hoof. Using a blunted nail the infection was dug out. This did cause her move away a bit in pain, but then I guess you would if someone was pushing a nail under your toenail. Back in position he investigated the depth of the hole and found it to be about 1/2 inch. He was worried that it might get deep enough to infect the pedal bone, which in turn would infect the navicular. If this would happen then it could be all over for Filly.
He left the shoe off and gave instruction for salt baths and poultice twice a day to try and draw the infection out. Rick, Ritchie and I did this procedure immediately. The first attempt at a salt bath was obviously very sore and she spilled most of it. The second however was very good and she happily stood in the bath for 5 minutes. Applying the poultice was also without drama.
I have to be at the yard by 9am tomorrow to do another session with Rick.
Currently Ritchie and I sitting at home worried and getting quietly drunk, all the earlier optimism gone.

Saturday 13 November 2010

Set back with Filly's hoof

Ritchie and I had been away in Germany for a few days to visit my parents in law and relax at a very large health spa complex. 14 different saunas !! On returning home last night we quickly changed and dashed to the yard for a quick play with the horses.
Filly was in a very gentle, cuddly mood when I entered her box to pick out her feet. I had some trouble with the front feet. The lifting of the feet was fine but she would try and take the foot away from me just before I had placed it on the ground. One of our absolute principles is to never drop a hoof. We always place them on the ground, on a spot of our choosing and require that at that point the leg is relaxed. Filly can move the hoof afterwards to make herself comfortable, but MUST let us place it down first. Remember that control of movement is the definer of herd hierarchy and we take this to the movement of individual legs. I have to say that when Ritchie came home from a course and announced this I was skeptical, but have since discovered that it caused a rapid change in Filly's attitude to me in the box so have rigidly stuck to the principle. To start with she was very reluctant to let this happen as she knew it would be giving up another slice of dominance. The first few time took up to 15 minutes per leg to get them on the ground in a relaxed state, but now in general it is instant and easy.
Last night however she was very difficult about it which was frustrating after such good progress. She was also very difficult with the hind quarter porcupine yield with lots of tail swishing, again frustrating as she had been getting so good. I was ready to blame everyone for dropping feet and pushing her around badly, but I was missing the point that she was not acting bolshy, just resisting my commands. Her head was looking soft, with no flashing of teeth etc. I should have read the signs better.
Leading her out of the box it was immediately obvious that she was very lame on her bad hoof. Putting her back in the box I went for reinforcements, Ritchie ! Whilst she held Filly I carefully inspected the hoof finding nothing new wrong. But there was something wrong so I decided to dig the putty out. This must have been sore for her, but she did not move a muscle. I have taught her to put her hoof on a low mounting block so that I can work with two hands. She must have stayed there for 5 minutes not moving. When most of the putty was out the hoof pick started pulling out black muck which smelt really really bad. Obviously an infection had set in again. We rang Rick, having driven home to get a phone, and he suggested we reapply the hoof putty and we then try to bathe the hoof in salt water the next day.

So today Ritchie went to the yard this morning to assist in the bathing. A bit of a struggle was expected but in the event she was as good as gold, apart from trying to nibble Rick and anything else in range. To calm her down Ritchie suggested that Rick just act like a hay net and all would be fine !
She really has a very inquisitive nature and everything has to be investigated with her mouth. Not chewing generally, just tasting and worrying the object. We have just returned home from a second bathing tonight. The only problem occur ed when she spilled some of the water and went right brain about the resulting puddle. A new bowl of water and moving to a dry place and she was fine again. She even pivoted around the bathing foot without removing it from the bowl to investigate yet another turn out rug. hanging nearby.

One last really nice moment I must relate was from last night. I took her into the indoor school for a roll, and again she remained down in my presence whilst I rubbed her all over. This is so important to me as I have mentioned before, and will probably bore you all with again.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Evening with Filly, Day with Billy

Two days have passed since my last post. One evening spent with Filly with Ritchie and her horse Bonitao acting as chaperon and an afternoon with Billy.
Yesterday evening with Filly was fun. We played in the indoor school where Bonitao and Ritchie were also training. Given her past history with other horses I am pleased to report all went very well, even though Ritchie was doing some extreme friendly game with Bonitao and the tarpaulin.
We started with the mounting block which was very easy, she really has the hang of positioning in the correct place to be mounted. She doesn't realise that yet of course, she thinks it's the right place for a good scratch. From there we moved on to dragging the tarpaulin around. Again this started a bit right brain and with the added pressure of Bonitao in the school this was to be expected. After a very short time though she settled down and walked very quietly and a bit bored next to me. The sequence of habituation to a new stimulus is Fear, Curiosity, Acceptance, Ignore.
This makes absolute sense in evolutionary behaviour terms. In the wild being sceptical about everything keeps you alive. Run first and ask questions later. But if you run from everything then there is a massive waste of energy which has taken a long time to eat, so if the stimulus does not appear to threaten then investigate in case it's a food source or a play thing. When those possibilities are exhausted then accept the stimulus and finally don't even waste energy noticing it.
However as soon as acceptance at a walk has been fixed I increased the stimulus by moving up to a trot. Now the tarpaulin follows even faster, so the stimulus increases. The whole process is then repeated, and of course I have to be on both sides of her so that the comfort of my presence and the stimulus of the tarp is seen from both eyes. Desensitisation really has to be done in a very ordered way to achieve maximum effect.
We then started some squeeze game over a pole between jump wings, and surprisingly this caused all sorts of problems with some very very right brain moments. I resorted to circling game over the pole as this seems to be a more confidence building and comforting game. Possibly because she only has one eye on me at a time ? After 10 minutes of this boredom crept in and all was back to normal with the pole. Interestingly she then walked out of the school with me in a very submissive pose with her head lowered, but ears pricked and attentive.
Today was Billys' turn. I had not played with him for a while and it showed to start with, he seemed very uncertain. We did lots of stick to me until he became more confident. His backup next to me was particularly good. We moved onto circling game which again was unconfident at the start but improved slowly. Having established that he was OK with me waving the stick and string when he was at rest and during stick to me I wanted to be able to do the same as he circled. The idea is to be able to emphasise my friendly posture by using friendly stick movements. Again to start he was unconfident about this obviously thinking any stick movement meant "go faster". Towards the end of this game he seemed to get it however and relaxed to a large extent.
We also played some sideways game which is becoming excellent and squeeze game, which whilst being a a bit disloyal I have to say is better than Fillys' now (hope she can't read this I'm ususally in enough trouble with her anyway. A bit like being at home really !).
I was then allowed to ride Bonitao for a while in the outdoor school. My 3rd ride in 20 years. Ritchie however decided to counter my weight by only allowing use of the bareback pad. Good idea really as it is much better for developing a much deeper seat, but my groin muscles are not used to that much stretching these days. She was then concerned that I was pulling on both reins at the same time so took one off. I now had bareback pad, halter and one rein having not ridden much for years. I have to say I had fun, but I think Bonitao was a bit bored. We managed one trot but that was a bit sore on the aforementioned muscle. As you can imagine this got a lot of sympathy from Ritchie. I can only imagine it as well unfortunately.

Monday 8 November 2010

Now the tarpaulin comes to life

Late start to the training day last night, so I only managed to play with Filly. I started with some refresher training of all the yields. It is very easy to forget to return to theses basic exercises from time to time, but they are important.
Horses determine dominance in the herd by their ability to control the motion of others, therefore by controlling Fillys' basic movements I am reasserting my dominance over her. To be fair the yields were very good, even the hind quarter porcupine. This still results in some irritated tail swishing, but at least there is less tendency for her to porcupine me back with her teeth !
We then moved onto the scary travelling cone game, but this caused very few problems, even when I jerked the cone towards her. As a result I decided to replace the cone with a folded up tarpaulin.
This was very very scary to start with, but I just kept walking calmly with focus until she relaxed, and then walked some more. This was not intended to be a flooding procedure, but approach and retreat. In the event she got sufficiently scared immediately and tried to run away that I had no choice but to flood her. If I had stopped the training at the point she tried to depart I would have taught her that running away was the correct response to get the tarpaulin to stop moving. Not the desired behaviour at all. Fortunately, as always, I was using a 22 foot line so she could do all her antics at a save distance. When she did come back into the stick to me position and appeared calm we stopped and had a long break. Thus she was given comfort when she did the right thing. A few more goes at this and she was walking around pretty calmly next to me. It bought home to me however how quickly one has to think and adapt to circumstances, if I had not switched tactics it would have taken a long time to get over my initial mistake.
Now just because it was OK at walk does not mean it would be OK at trot so I started jogging. I needed the exercise anyway as my leg is starting to heal after the embarrassing mounting block episode ! This put a whole new level of pressure on. She would trot along but with me in zone 4, but not in the desired zone 2. Not a comfortable feeling to be that close to her hind legs when she was a bit scared. This time we did manage to do the approach and retreat method of drawing the tarp up to her and then letting it fall behind. After about 10 or 15 minutes she calmed down enough to give me a rest.
I then moved onto mounting block training at which she is getting really really good. She happily lets me position her next to the block now and is rewarded by a long back scratch on her opposite side. I'm still desensitising her to having me lean over her. I know we have done loads of this in the past all the way up to me lying over her, but with the bad hind foot I don't want to put weight on her at the moment so this is the next best thing to keep the backing training going.
We then had a most enjoyable roll in the dirt. I put her at liberty whilst I tidied up the toys and she immediately went to roll. I followed her to the normal rolling area and crouched down next to her as she rolled. Then approaching (cautiously as the legs flail around a lot as she rolls) I started to rub all over her side and belly which she seemed to really enjoy. These moments of touching her while she is lying down are very important to me. It takes a lot of trust on her part to allow a predator to approach and rub her whilst she is so vulnerable. My current aim is to get her to let me sit on her whilst she is on the ground. Who knows we may be able to use this as a mounting method eventually. One can have dreams !!

Saturday 6 November 2010

Catch me if you can. Horsenality Software

As you may guess from the title more catching game was played with Billy. He seems to be getting the message that if he sticks to me all pressure is off, but if he runs away a predator suddenly materialises in the field.
It was a difficult session though, probably as a result of having no sleep for around 32 hours before playing. I was not quite as sharp as I needed to be. We still had some good moments when he would walk next to me for minutes at a time, then suddenly something would break the bond and he would canter away in a nice right brain exhibition. I wish I knew what signal I am giving out to have this happen, could be I am actually just boring him with the stick to me game, or an external influence acts as a catalyst. We did manage to walk the entire length of the field, about 200 meters with some really nice stops and backups, all at liberty. I know it is pushing things to play at liberty this early on with Billy, but I feel that if it can be done it strengthens his bond with me much quicker than coercion online.
It is so different to playing with Filly and really drives home the fact that these horsenalities really exist and are very important to understand to get the best out of the horse.
I then went and played a bit with Filly. I have been working on the one leg restraint using a thick rope as shown in Pat Parellis' farrier DVD. To say it is not a problem with her is an understatement. She almost holds the leg up herself as I wrap the rope around the knee. When I entered the box today she was a bit feisty, but a couple of minutes of this on each front leg and she transformed into a really gentle well behaved filly. It is in effect the same as just holding the leg up with the hand, but much less tiring on the back and thighs. It's applied in such a way that a quick flick of the wrist and it falls off over the front of the knee so there is no more risk of injury to the horse than holding the leg with the hand, but a lot less chance of injury to me.
We then moved to the indoor school where a cone had a nasty habit of chasing us again, which was a bit scary to start with. I am using approach and retreat with this training. 
Another method called flooding is a way of desensitizing the horse to a stimulus by just keep applying it however scared they get until they slowly relax and settle down as they realise it won't hurt them. Then keep going for a long time to really make the lesson of desensitisation stick. In the old days it was called "sacking out". The snag with this is that it creates a really right brain extroverted horse for a while which could cause injury to Filly and/or me.
Flooding is a very quick method but I prefer approach and retreat as I am a coward at times. In this method the stimulus is applied gradually and removed quickly as soon as the horse looks a bit too wary. Slowly the threshold of approach gets closer until they can touch the object, or in this case it was touching her hind legs as we walked. As I mentioned in a previous post I am doing this by drawing the dragging cone closer and then letting it drift back. A bit tricky handling two 22 foot ropes, one for her and one for the cone, and a carrot stick, but doable with thought and planning. This time I took a leaf out of the flooding procedure and carried on the approach and retreat long after acceptance had crept in. I hope that this will reinforce the desensitisation so that it will last longer, but I think we both got a bit bored walking up and down the school. It was the aim to make her bored with the cone of course.
Quick update on her YoYo. WOW what an improvement. She now backs up with energy when I get to, at most, phase 2. Much more importantly there is no sign of defiance on her face which was my real aim.

It is also interesting how all this training is transferring over into box manners as well. She used to be really difficult at feed time, with ears back and teeth out. Today she patiently waited as I took the halter off and placed the food on the floor of the box. I'm not saying she was wearing a halo, but at least the trident tail and horns weren't out. So much better than when I had to go in with a carrot stick for self defence.

One last note : I have nearly finished writing a simple database program for windows that allows me to keep horsenality charts on the pc. Importantly it asks the questions that are on the chart without you being able to see which part of the chart the question comes from. The idea is to prevent bias creeping into the result. If you want a mild LBE (who doesn't ?) then using a chart you maybe tempted, even subconsciously, to put the ticks in the appropriate places to get one. With the program that is no longer possible so the chart is more objective. Multiple horses can be entered and multiple charts stored for each horse. It is in early stages of debugging at the moment and my guess is that the finished article will be available sometime after Christmas. Could you comment if interested so that I can get an idea as to how many people want a copy. If it is only me then I can live with a few bugs and stop development early !!

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Extreme Friendly with Filly. Billy learns football

Ritchie has been on a course. She has come home with lots of new ideas. Bad news for Filly !!
I am sure we have all played with cones, Filly loves them. We always laugh when passing a motorway roadworks, "Filly Heaven". One of the new ideas was to tie a 22 foot line to the cone and drag it around behind us as we play to "stick to me". Suddenly this passive cone has come to life and is stalking her. Right brain moment. She was not at all sure about this turn of events, lots of prancing and snorting. In the meantime I tried to maintain focus and walk calmly, but with purpose, up and down the school. Slowly the snorting subsided and she became a little more curious. Approach and retreat was accomplished, whilst walking, by drawing the cone closer and then letting it fall further behind us. I kept this going for quite a long time until she really settled down.
This has the effect of establishing me as a stronger leader as I have in effect ignored what she sees as a dangerous obstacle which turns out to be harmless. This is what the matriarch does in a wild herd. She shows the herd what they should and should not react to. Again it comes back to saving energy for when it is really needed by not reacting to threatening objects unnecessarily.
I have done this for two sessions now. Today she was still very right brain at times, but a strange thing happened at liberty. She was totally calm and chilled with "stick to me" with the cone following. Her head was low and her eyes soft, very relaxed. Odd as online the rope is held loose with no contact so she is in effect at part liberty even then. In general she reacts best at liberty to all new things. The old saying of "train online, test at liberty" seems to be inverted !!
I have also being doing lots of work getting her to relax and stand next to me whilst I am on the mounting block. This is getting pretty good online. One game is to get her to change her nearside whilst I keep my feet still. This involves hind quarter porcupine, front quarter yield to turn 180 degrees and a hind quarter yield towards me to position nicely so I could mount (if she was fit).
Feeling brave I decided to try this a liberty. Mounting the block whilst she was someway off investigating a pile of poo I asked her to circle to get her moving. I then asked for hind quarter yield and draw too me. She readily came over. I then asked her to move past a bit and sidepass to me into the mount position. She went a bit too far past so to get her to back up I looped the stick/string round her neck and pulled gently back. She neatly came back two steps and waited. Reward was a really long scratch from me. My aim is to get her to offer the mounting position when I get on the block.
Another great moment for me in the journey. They seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment, or maybe I am just easily impressed ?
Moving on to Billy I decided to introduce him to a pilates ball. This has lots of potential for fun. It can be rolled, bounced, thrown, used to rub/scratch, simulate a rider. Today was, I thought gentle, introduction day. In the event Billy was not worried at all initially. He immediately checked it out with his nose, and after a short time kicked it neatly with his front leg. A proper kick, not a girly kick like Filly. Even male horses play better football than the girls ( just kidding ). It was very windy so the ball had a bit of a mind of its' own at times and this did result in the odd spook, one fairly extreme one were I temporarily lost him. Walking over he did come to meet me however so no damage was done to the rapport.
I then progressed to lots and lots of ball bouncing towards and away from him ( approach and retreat again) When confidence was gained I just stood with the ball in my arms until he touched it with his nose. Then the ball was placed against his neck, removed, replaced again and again until he was comfortable and even used it as rubbing post for his head / neck. Great progress so getting brave I rolled it from his neck onto his back, rolled it off again... and repeat until calm!! Next stage was to roll it of the far side of his back. This is psychologically challenging as the ball moved from the view of one eye too the other over his back. First attempt, very calm. The wind then neatly blew it back under his belly to me !
Seeing how far I could push this I then placed the ball on his back and lightly bounced it simulating a rider rocking and rolling around. Again no problem at all.
I know that this roll of good sessions has got to end, but what a buzz at the moment. Horses live in the moment, I think I'll emulate them for now.

Sunday 31 October 2010

Billy learns to catch me. A Friendly Filly

Back from the USA and after failing to sleep, straight to the yard.
Started playing with Billy as he is still in a field 24 hours a day. Due to the fact that his field mate cannot be left alone that is where I have to play with him. I have had a few issues with him not catching me so decided to spend a whole session working on this. He would come over but after a while he would move a short distance away and then, when far enough, run away. I needed to get him more connected to me so catching game seemed like the right way to go about it.
The method I used is the old predator / friendly switch. If Billy was ignoring me I would go into the pose of an approaching predator and stalk him. This creates discomfort for him as being stalked by a predator if you think you might be lunch cannot be a nice feeling. If he continued to ignore me I would throw the end of the rope at him and try to tag him. To start with this resulted in him running away, as you might expect, but it did heighten his awareness of me being around. You might think it odd that I am apparently driving him away when I want him to come to me, but bear with me.
As he became more aware of me and made the slightest effort to look at me as I approached I would immediately switch to friendly pose, look away and stop approaching him. I then had to study him with my peripheral vision to see his reaction. If he turned away again, then back to predator, if he looks at me then stay friendly. He is learning that as long as his attention is on me the predatory behaviour disappears. He is teaching ME to be friendly.
As this progresses I ask for more response. To start with a glance with one ear is enough, but as we progress I require him to move in my direction before getting the comfort of a friendly look. Pretty soon he is walking right up to me and following at heel ! If he leaves then of course the predator reappears. We had a lot of fun with this game, plus some extreme friendly game with a horse fun ball which was in the field.
Toys and obstacles are great to get my imagination going and keep it interesting for both of us. The fun ball has a handle on it that I could thread a 22 foot rope through. Now I could drag it, swing it etc. Use your imagination, I probably did it. Billy was skeptical to start, but when it kept dragging away from him, or swinging away from him he got curious and readily followed it.
Being autumn it then got dark, so time for Filly indoors.
What a difference from the previous session. Yesterday and today I kept wanting to ask where the real Filly was, because this friendly, inquisitive version was so different. YoYo was much better, today a stern finger waggle got a reasonable response and an ears pricked "what are we doing next" look. She was also like her old self when it came to cuddles. No mouthing or biting, just calm and affectionate. We played all the usual games, sideways is not as good as it was pre ring worm so needs work, but the rest were pretty good. We did a lot of stick to me at trot which gave me a good work out. I few dominance issues easily corrected with forequarter yields.
Today I particularly did a lot of work just getting her to automatically move into the mounting position when I got on the mounting block and then just getting her to stand there whilst being scratched. I can't be bothered to get the horse to go to the mounting block every time I want to get on, I would much rather they just got into position themselves when they see me on the block. This went really well. Whilst standing on the block I could direct her such that I could get on either side without moving so much as a toe myself. True partnership.
A quick note on which side to mount a horse. The traditional side, left, is only taught as a result of old military doctrine. A cavalry officer wears his sabre on his left hip so that it can easily be drawn with the right hand. Therefore if you mount from the right side and swing the left leg over the hind quarters a neat shaving of horse meat comes of ready for dinner. Therefore one should mount from the left side swinging the right leg over, which the horse finds much more comfortable, but means you have to get your meat from elsewhere. Now I don't wear a sabre as there is a law against long knives in public in the UK. It therefore does not matter which side I get on and I can't help feeling that alternating sides has got to be better for my thighs and the horses back.
Finally I had a wonderful compliment from Filly today. When we first enter the indoor school she loves to have a quick roll in the sand. I make a habit of crouching down as she rolls to appear less threatening. Today she rolled several times and then stayed on her belly chewing a hoof. I moved over and started to scratch her neck, she placed her head in my lap and stayed there for a while. It is important to me because a prey animal is very vulnerable when lying down, and to let me, a predator, approach and touch her shows great trust. A special moment.

Friday 29 October 2010

Trouble with YoYo game

Yesterday I went to the yard before work to have a quick play with Filly. ( By the way I'm writing this from Philadelphia, which is kind of appropriate !) I still wanted to improve her tendency to nip so concentrated initially on the "stick to me" game. She was much better today. Whenever her head came round at me with an open mouth I only had to move the carrot stick towards her for her to think better of it. We also did lots of turns towards her as forequarter yields are generally what triggers a mouthing attack. Again much improvement on previous days.
Using forequarter yields are one of the ways that horses determine the pecking order in the herd. I am sure that many of you have seen the fencing (as in swordsmanship) games that horse play with their necks and teeth. They rarely actually bite each other (though one horse on the yard currently has evidence that they do occasionally) but use their heads almost like clubs trying to knock the other horse away. The looser is the one who yields their head or ultimately their front legs away. This is in effect what I am doing as I ask for a forequarter yield. The important thing in this game is to never move your feet away from the horse. Towards is OK as soon as they start to yield so that you can follow them and eventually get a full 360 degree turn with the hind legs remaining in one place. Alright, I can dream can't I !! It may happen one day.

I think she will always be a horse that tests the boundaries of what is acceptable. In a way it is this spirit that I find fun. You can never assume anything with Filly, it doesn't change on a daily basis, but on a second to second basis. It can be a bit frustrating at times I admit, but the reward is enormous when it works well.

We then moved onto the YoYo game. She is very good at the draw ( towards me ) but the backup is to put it politely slow. I try to keep the phases consistent, starting with a finger wiggle, moving to a rope wiggle, a wiggle that moves the halter on her nose and finally a full hard rope wiggle with lots of commotion. She does go backwards, even at phase one, but you could go and make a cup of tea in the time it takes to move one leg, and I want her to go back 22 feet. A full English cream tea could be consumed in that time. I have tried making it more interesting for her by backing between cones, over poles etc, but it is still slow. Today I tried making the phases quicker, which caused her to look interested, not at all alarmed, even at phase 4, but move at about the same pace. Maybe a tad quicker, but it was certainly me putting in most of the effort. After a slightly more acceptable backup I called it quits for the day and took her outside to apply more hoof putty.
I noticed that she was walking a bit lame on the concrete and went to pick out her hooves to find the cause. To my horror I found two round stones which she must have picked up between the field and the school ( I had picked hooves out in the field entrance) lodged in her bad hoof sole. The bar shoe she has on along with tiny feet mean that stuff easily gets stuck there. No wonder she was having trouble moving quickly, but she had not appeared lame in the school, and her expression had not revealed any pain. As Ritchie commented, "always check for a physical problem before assuming a psychological problem ".
 Lesson learned, experience gained, but a bad feeling of guilt all the way across the Atlantic !

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Dominance reduced at Liberty. Filly solves a problem

I've spent two days playing with Filly trying to overcome the dominance issues. She was trying to bite at every opportunity and reared a couple of times. Being fairly small still she is not too intimidating when she does this and gets backed up a long way after each attempt. However the problem was not resolving itself, so taking the idea that repeating the same actions time and again and expecting a different result is a sign of madness I changed tack.
Now I must admit to being a bit of a risk taker at heart, so in light of this I removed the lead rope and started playing at liberty. I hoped that the removal of one form of pressure would enhance the partnership side of the relationship. To start with she then advanced on me rearing slightly, for which she got a sharp tap and the shoulder. This startled her somewhat, and she settled down to a bout of licking and chewing. Now this could have been good or bad news as she digested the fact that she was now "free". I waited patiently but pensively to see what would happen next.
She approached me with the nicest look on her face and I had my old Filly back ! In fact liberty was better than ever, with no tendency to leave for the gate at all.
We moved around the school with "stick to me" game. I found that if I turned into her she again tried to nip me, but I countered this with a rapid forequarter yield through 360 degrees to continue walking in the original direction. To achieve the yield I looked stern, turned sharply into her and rhythmically moved the carrot stick towards her neck. If she turned quickly enough there was no contact, any defiance in the turn and she got tapped on the neck with the stick handle. Left brain horses particularly seem to resent yielding the forequarter as in the horse world it is a sign of submission.
There is a world of difference between asking for a yield in this way and merely hitting the horse. When asking for the yield my intention is NOT to touch her, but if she is slow in moving out of the way of the approaching stick then it does make contact. The difference is CHOICE. If you hit a horse then you make contact irrespective of what the horse does, if you ask for a yield the horse does not get touched if it yields away quickly enough. Obviously a long response time is given in the early stages of training, which reduces as they get better.
We then moved onto weave and figure 8 at liberty with very few problems at all. We even managed the aforementioned squeeze game, and football. Circling was good, but a bit closer than I would really like, but at least this means the draw is good and there is no desire to leave.

After playing last night I had 15 minutes to kill before the pub opened so decided to spend it with Filly in the stable. I had made up a hay net in which I had buried pieces of carrot and apple and carefully watched to see what she would do. What I was not prepared for was her ability to solve the problem of the next treat being around the back of the net. Very carefully, using her nose, she rotated the net until the morsel faced her then picked it out. This may not sound that impressive but to me it showed a problem solving ability I had not expected. Lets consider the logical steps required
1) Notice that morsel is round the back of the net
2) Decide to rotate the net in order to get to it ( an interesting spatial awareness problem)
3) Realise that by flicking the net with her nose in a particular way she could get the net to turn (this involved moving her nose/mouth away from the desired morsel so showed a degree of planning)
4) Stopping the rotation at the correct point
5) Eat morsel

If anyone has further insight into horse problem solving of this sort please leave a comment as I would be fascinated to hear about it. Also, if you have any experience of how liberty exercises can solve dominance issues then please do comment.

Sunday 24 October 2010

More Squeeze with Filly

Finally I have remembered to take some photos of the squeeze that I set up for Filly. It is designed as a start for loading in a trailer, getting into starting stalls etc.


She was nice to play with today. Far fewer dominance issues.
They only surfaced when I asked for an extreme turn into her as I was leading. It could of course be that she has not learnt to move the front feet sideways fast enough yet to get out of the way, and so lifts them both of the ground in frustration. The face expression would suggest that this is the case. I need to teach her to turn with her weight on the hind quarters to make this easier for her to organise her feet. There is an exercise that Russel taught that should help with this.
Step one is driving from zone 3.
Step two, turn towards her so that I am facing her hind quarters and ask for a hind quarter yield. When she yields she is now facing me and backwards to the direction of the original driving game.
Step three, get her to backup smartly ( a challenge with Filly). This gets her weight over her hind legs.
Step four. Fore quarter drive whilst walking on the original line so that she has to pivot about her hind legs and is neatly now walking in the original direction on the other side of me.
Believe me it is difficult to describe, but harder to execute. As Russel said it is a thing of beauty when done well. For us it is still rather ugly, but fun.
I also spent a considerable time doing gentle games while she was wearing her bridle. We have just introduced her to this, but at the suggestion of a lady at the yard smeared a very small amount of mint toothpaste on the bit ( I checked with a vet first and a very small amount is fine ). She loves this. In fact when I came to take it off she was reluctant to let it out of her mouth. This was the longest that she has had a bit in her mouth so I was very pleased with the acceptance.
More time was spent with Billy in the field. He is really a very sensitive horse. Sideways was a bit better, but as Ritchie observed he wants to go sideways but can't yet work out how to move his feet to make it happen.
Ritchie played with him for a while. She is very experienced with Parelli, but was a bit taken aback by his sensitivity. Comments like "I didn't ask for that" floated across the field. I had to point out that actually she had but the aid was sooo subtle she didn't even know she had given it.
I think this subtlety has got him into trouble in the past. People have inadvertently asked him to do something and then got annoyed with him when he did. He is going to take a lot of patience to back, but I can't wait for the challenge.
At one point he stared into a neighbouring field. I have long since learnt to follow the gaze of a horse and was rewarded today with the sight of two young foxes playing. What a privilege which I would have missed but for Billy