It's all French to me...

But seriously, it is.

If you haven't guessed from the title (Bit dense, aren't you?) I'm in France now. I'm also feeling rather... overwhelmed.

I'm at the English lessons and club stable and so far out of my element that ... well, I don't actually have a hyperbole or example for it.

I've had a few (very, very few) English lessons in my childhood and I've ridden a couple of horses English style, but I am by no means of any imagination, an English rider.

So during my first lesson, on day one while trying to learn and remember all of the new things, when the instructor started the lesson with the words: "How's your French?" I felt like a complete fish out of water- hey, look at that, I found a phrase for it after all!

My response: "Non-existent."

Much like my technical English riding abilities.

I'm pretty much self taught and I'm have a serious issue with self confidence about my riding abilities and being watched. I don't even like being watched by my own mother. It makes me tense up, lose concentration and forget everything I know.
I hate showing horses to people. Over the years I've gotten a bit better about it, but yesterday most of that went out the window. I spent most of the lesson watching the others and being completely fine about that.

 It also didn't help that my blood sugar was down, I couldn't hear half of what he said (partial hearing loss in an ear) and half of the lesson was in French. But mainly I just felt incredibly overwhelmed and uninformed.

Trying to do a dressage leg yield towards the fence isn't exactly my forte.

Probably the way the other girls would feel if I put them up on a quarter horse and asked them to do a rollback or a sliding stop. (Not that I can actually do a rollback)

It's a hang up I have to get over, and fast.


That said, both of my hosts are incredibly knowledgeable horse people and very skilled. I have a lot to learn.

Terrifying Coworkers: Flashback

I worked alone for most of my time as a guide but I occasionally had coworkers, some were good (they didn't stay long) and most were just alright. But one in particular was awful. She was the typical snotty, 16-17 year old who thought she knew everything about horses. Despite not owning a single one. The only reason she got hired was because I was on a long vacation. When I returned she kept trying to tell me how to do things, all of which were wrong, and she kept mixing stuff up. Like all the tack that I had spent hours figuring out which ones fit which horse better.

The problem came when she wasn't willing to accept that the way she'd been doing things wasn't going to continue now that I was back.

Me: *flipping the sweaty saddle pads upside down over the saddles*
Her: "No, we just stack them in a pile like this." *flops it on the floor sweaty side down*
Me: "No, they get moldy and gross if they don't get a chance to dry out. Plus this way they can stay with the saddle, and horse, they fit best on."
Her: "Whatever, that's not how we do it."
Me: "Why don't you ask the boss then?"
Her: "Fine!"

Shockingly her way was wrong..

Our boss had recently bought a little mare from the auction who was incredibly hard to catch, because of this and because she wasn't ready to be a guest horse yet, catching her was the last thing on the 'tacking up' list.
I was just getting the regular guest horses brought in and tacked up when my coworker said she was going to go catch the new mare.
Me: "Why don't you wait until all the horses are ready?"
Her: "No, I'm just going to go get her now."
Me: "She's not easy to catch and it will work better with two people trying."
Her: "It's fine, I got this."
I gave her a weird look but decided not to say anything, since I could actually get things done faster with her out of the way.

Well, when I was getting them ready I saw the little mare running wild up towards the barn. On the road (it was never busy) and happily chomping down on the neighbors yard and flowers along the way. I figured she'd probably had more than a little trouble and bitten off more than she could chew. I also figured that I didn't have time for this nonsense and had horses to get ready. So I left her to deal with it.  After all, she said she had it.

I continued tacking up and watched, with a fair bit of amusement (I know, shame on me) as she chased that little mare around in circles getting more and more frustrated.

Finally she seemed to give up and stomped over to me.

Her: "Aren't you going to help me?!"
Me: "Nope, not until I'm done tacking up. I have horses to get ready, horses that are actually going to be used today."
Her: "We need to get her in!"
Me: "And we will. Once I'm done tacking up."

After I was done I hopped up on my lead horse and helped her chase/guide the mare into the round pen. It was a damn waste of time, since no one was riding her that day, but at least it was a heck of a show.

Another day she was "helping me" groom, feed and tack up the horses and I noticed she was putting a saddle pad on brownie. Who was literally caked with mud.

Thinking that maybe she forgot and wasn't paying attention, I took the pad off and started currying her.
Her: *carrying the saddle* "Did brownie's pad fall off? Can you put it back on?"
Me: "No, I took it off. She's filthy and has to be groomed."
Her: "She looks fine! Just put the pad back on so I can put the saddle on!"
Me: "No. She needs to be groomed or the mud will rub and cause saddle sores and discomfort all day. Just set the saddle down and I'll put it on when she's clean."
Her: "Oh my god, she's fine! Whatever, I'm going to go get Penny ready.."

 I checked all the horses after that. This was actually the final straw for me and I told my boss he needed to fire her, because that was not okay. Also she didn't stay by the guests on the ride, didn't communicate with them, she couldn't ride for beans (she rode one of our oldest, calmest horses as her guide horse) and she refused to listen to any other way of doing things. Not the ideal worker.

It's hard to find good trail guides that will stick around after you train them. At least it's hard to find them when the pay isn't great, the ride's not that exciting, and once they've realized it's actual work.

Horse sick

Well I'm really not homesick and I've been enjoying  my time here (my planning for the transportation to my next location not so much) but I must admit, I'm a little horse sick.

I never thought I'd miss western riding, but I do a little bit. Okay, not the saddles. I've never cared for those, although I sure do miss my own saddle.
No, I miss neck reining.
Dressage is beautiful to watch but there's just something about seeing a working cow horse turn and spin with their "power steering" (terrible term).

In reality what I probably really miss is riding responsive horses. Since working trail horses can't be very responsive, new riders constantly can take the edge of any horse.  So I understand why these aren't responsive. But dang, I miss my horses.  I like to be able to turn my horse with just a little leg or a bit of rein. I like them to put on the breaks when I say 'woah' and I like them to make a sharp turn no matter what speed I ask them to.

My own horse loves neck reining and I think he was used for poles or barrels (nothing serious, just play day stuff) because if you ask him to do it, you'd better hang on. It has taken me a lot of time to get him to cut the bolting out though.

I just miss the feeling of sitting on a horse and saying 'do this' and *BAM* it's done. There is a serious joy in riding a highly responsive horse, which is why I'm always so excited to bring home cow horses (even though I know they are usually fairly messed up and more work). 

 It's pretty impossible to get 10 or so horses to become polite responsive citizens in a month on non consistent riding.  I miss my horses that follow me no matter where I go, stand if I ask them to (not just if they're tied) and who don't kick me in the dang knee cap.  

I could really do without getting kicked in the knees. I'm looking at you Picasso. Three times? Really? Is getting your feet picked out really so horrible? Bah. I already have bad knees and ankles, they don't need any assistance speeding them up.

That said, I have definitely improved my hands, working on making them more independent, getting more heel depth, keeping my leg back and improving my posting. I have realized that I'm a control freak (Alright, that I've known for years) and I don't like feeling out of control on a horse. Which has made me rely too much on my hands. 

I caught myself using my reins for balance a lot before I left. Shame on me. So when I was there I worked on going reinless and working tack free to improve my balance.

The horses here are ridden without contact (except for the more spunky ones) which has made me rely on my seat more than my hands. Which is good. However the lack of contact seems to have made them less sensitive to pressure rather than more. Which means when I do need to use pressure, I have to use considerably more than I would otherwise. 

I miss my responsive horses and I want to ride a reining horse now. That is something I should try and learn more about when I get home. So long as I can find a way to teach it that isn't nasty and goes along with my methods.

My mom's funny about how I teach neck reining.

Mom: When are you going to teach them how to neck rein? You know people always ask if they can neck rein.

Me: I'm teaching them leg pressure and leg cues first. Then, when they've gotten so sensitive that they'll turn with just that, then I'll teach neck reining.

Mom: But then they won't need to neck rein.

Me: Exactly.  

Mom: *confused*

Me: If they don't need the reins, I can just add them in with my leg cue until they associate the two together. Then they should respond to just the reins without the leg cues or with just the lightest pressure on the reins.

Still, there is definitely merit to learning how to speed up the process.

Perspective

I see rants (and have done some myself) over people standing on horses, having barb wire fencing and doing other generally stupid things. I've complained about them.

I'm going to shut up about them from now on though.

Why?

Because living in Spain has showed me that barb wire fencing seems pretty goddamn great when compared with living staked out on a chain, or living their whole life in a dark, smelly barn.

We call him prison horse.

Chain horse

These are far from the only two we've seen. I've seen several locked in a barn, and even more kept on land the size of the average bedroom. No, I don't mean one horse- I mean 3-4.

I've seen horses ridden by idiotic young men, with huge shank bits, spurs and weighted shoes- cantering and showing off- thought town, on the pavement.

Idiots.

So yeah, I'm thinking most of the horses we complain about really aren't all that bad off after all. It's all a matter of perspective. 

How do you train without pressure...

As a reminder, I'm going to be posting much more frequently on my other traveling blog, so add that one if you want posts more often. That one will also be more things about my trip, life and journey and this one will be more about my thoughts on horse things alone.

Here's the link again: http://thewanderingequestrian.blogspot.com.es/

So Spain is goddamn cold.
Today it's also cold and wet. I do not have the proper clothes for this. It actually snowed for a day last week.

okay, pictures take too long to upload here

I've started to forget what it feels like to actually be warm.  No, I'm not exaggerating. I'm posting this from the nearest place to a heating panel in my room with breaks for my hands.  I am a warm person- I do well in the heat and awful in the cold.

There are two other girls here with me right not, Charlotte, 16, from Scotland, and Nele, 18, from Germany.


So far we've only been riding the 'guest' horses (our hosts went on a trip to see family so it's understandable) which is rather dull for me as I'm used to actually riding a horse- not just being a passenger. And we are not 'riding' these horses, we're sitting on them. I'm hoping that we're going to start riding the other more difficult horses soon. (The ones that have been off all winter) Okay, what we're actually really hoping is that it gets warm soon.

All of the horses here are ridden bitless, which is fine since I ride with bitless as well as with a bit (although I have to say that I  rather think the Dually halters- Monty Roberts- do less than jack shit when it comes to riding.) I think the real problem is that these horses don't seem to know what to do with pressure. They're ridden on a very loose rein, which is again, fine, but that includes when they may 'act up'. (On the plus side, it's given my the chance to work on improving my independent hands I suppose.)

When she said she had a problem with people letting the horses eat, I pictured guests like we had when I was a trail guide- where they'd say "Oh, you must be hungry, here go and have a bite to eat". But we aren't letting these horses eat, they just know that they're much bigger and stronger than us, and that there's really nothing we can do if we don't catch them in time and they plunge their heads down to the ground. Horses knowing that they're bigger and stronger than you is something you hope they'll never figure out for just this reason. Still, it's hard to correct them when they're to go right back to being ridden on a very loose rein after eating. So when you pull their heads up and tell them to go on, what you're kind of saying is also that 'that was fine, there's no difference in my riding or your freedom now then there was before' which is why they keep doing it.

Catching them before they get their heads down is great, but they can be sneaky little things and in all honesty, it's not training them not to do it. It's basically putting a bandaid on the problem.

I told them they should be quite happy they weren't my horses and didn't have to follow my rules because at home in my pasture, a loose rein is a privilege not a right. When you act nicely, you get a nice loose rein (pressure is removed), when you do something you shouldn't or try and go faster than asked, you lose length (pressure is applied), when you behave again, the pressure leaves, and that's how they learn what they're supposed to do or not do.

One day, one of the horses started cantering up the hill with a guest out of the blue and my horse decided she wanted to follow. Since I am not used to letting my horses do whatever they want, I reined her in, and since she kept acting nervous I didn't give her a loose rein again right away. Then my host, told me to give her more rein because she was acting nervous because she didn't know what tight reins/pressure meant. While I still think that it's more likely because she wanted to follow the other horse and I wasn't letting her and she was annoyed because she's not used to 'no', it raised a question for me, how on earth, do you train a horse  to ride without teaching them about pressure and what it means? I just don't understand how you train a horse if you don't use the removal and application of pressure. How do they understand what is right and what isn't?  I really don't understand...

But, these are not my horses and therefore they, and I, follow the rules set down by their owner. Even though I may find them frustrating. I really hope we're allowed to actually use the reins and pressure with the more difficult horses, because I refuse to get injured or run off with if I could have prevented it.

I've also never met so many horses who bite when annoyed- picking out feet for example or cinching. Biting is one of the big No-No's in my pasture since it's one of the only truly aggressive things a horse can do- just about everything else is them trying to get away. And these are not like the trail horses we had when I was a guide, these are healthy, fat horses who are fed 3 hay times a day, never kept tied up, ridden bitless on a loose rein, with treeless or very lightweight saddles, for one hack a day which is mainly walking and the occasional brief trot/canter. They have a great life is my point.

They're even kept with their families- mothers and daughters and so on. These are in no way abused or overworked horses. They are not mishandled or mistreated. I think they're just a bit...well, spoiled. I can't say they're disrespectful since I don't know if they've ever been taught or expected to respect their handlers and horses aren't born knowing that.  They know their job, and they'll do it, but no more.

They're also quite likely to run over you during feeding time. After getting stepped on a time or two I did decide I'm following my ' no fighting when people are out' rule and my 'don't be pushy about food' rule. I am also expecting them to move out of my way (i'll just annoy them until they do otherwise) and not just ignore me when I try to go somewhere, instead of me moving out of theirs. So far they're slowly picking it up.

 Personally, I think they'd be happier overall with having more set rules and boundaries. You can set boundaries without being cruel or harsh, and in my experience, the horse will actually thank you for it. Horses are herd animals, they like knowing who the leader is and they like the feeling of safety that defaulting to you can bring once you've got their trust.  Horses are like children, limits are your friend because while you can be friends with them, you need to be the parent/rider/owner first.

"It's the same with kids; you see some of these people with their kids, instead of being a little more engaged and seeing when things are going the wrong direction and redirecting them, they wait till they've done something wrong. Then they want to beat them up, or whip them for something that's already happened and people still do that with horses too. I'll be doing this the rest of my life, trying to convince people that that's not the way to go about things." - Buck Brannaman.


Not having these boundaries and rules doesn't make your relationship a partnership, it's just the oppose end of the spectrum from where many riders are dictators, but it isn't a partnership. You just become a passenger to them. A bit of an annoyance they have to put up with occasionally, and so when you annoy them (asking them to pick up their feet or tightening a cinch) they'll let you know you're annoying them.

I ask quite a few things of my horses at home, although none of them are very difficult.

I ask that you not fight when I'm out there.
I ask that you respect my spatial bubble and be polite around me. (You're much bigger than I am after all)
I ask that you ride out without acting up- this is different for every horse- and that you go, stop and turn when I ask.
I ask that you try what I want you to do or learn, even if it's new and confusing to you right now.
I ask that you look to me when you're scared, anxious or confused.
I ask that you try and move correctly so that you develop healthy muscle.
You respect me.

In return,

I feed, water and clean up after you.
I take care of your injuries.
I will respect you.
I do not get angry when you are confused or scared.
I try to stop trouble before it happens.
I try to ride and kindly as possible and work with you in the way you prefer.
I am a safe zone that you can go to and not be afraid of other horses or people.
I will listen to you if you tell me that you're having a terrible, no good, very bad day and you just need the day off instead of making you work anyway.
I will listen if you say that you are really not okay with doing something, and I will backtrack until you are okay with it.

We are partners, however, the balance of power is uneven because I am still the leader, but that isn't always a bad thing. Especially when you're a 1,300 lb flight animal who could injure or kill me easily, and I am not.

“Discipline isn't a dirty word. Far from it. Discipline is the one thing that separates us from chaos and anarchy. Discipline implies timing. It's the precursor to good behavior, and it never comes from bad behavior. People who associate discipline with punishment are wrong: with discipline, punishment is unnecessary.”-Buck Brannaman