Ok, I have a couple of days of Striker to catch up on so i will start with him. Didn't do much with him over the weekend, just a little bit on ground yielding on Saturday morning. Monday I rode him and concentrated on leg yielding under saddle. He is quite flexible for a Standarbred and doesn't have trouble bending, but he does have trouble with a bit of stifle lock. It doesn't affect him when he is moving and going forward, but for the slow stuff like teaching him to yield his HQ's from a stand still, he finds it really difficult. I thought it was only the right leg but the left leg seems to have come up with it too. Maybe because he is losing muscle tone from racing??? Not too worry, we will get through it.

Tuesday it was back to yielding HQ's on the ground as he is still slightly lame. He gets a little confused and is quite scared of my carrot stick so I am spending time rubbing him with it. I had a little ride. His go forward button is not too flash, I am working harder than him, which is NOT a good thing lol. I am giving him the benefit of the doubt at the moment as I know his feet are still sore, so i am not pushing the issue too much at this stage.

Wednesday. I have just done ground work today. More HQ yields and transitions on line. Walk, trot, walk, trot, canter, trot, canter, trot, walk. He is a very quick learner and although he falls out of his canter after half a circle, I let him be as at this stage all I want is the easy break over, which he is giving me, so I don't care how long he holds it for, just as long as he understands what I'm asking when I lift my energy and say "canter". Started to teach him to back up from pressure today, from nose and chest, as most Standardbreds find a back up extremely difficult, ESPECIALLY from pressure. Most will automatically lean back against you. He did well, although the stifles are a bit of a problem with this, but he tries. To finish up today, we did some short sessions of asking him to lead WITH me. Not behind me not in front or to the side but WITH me. He was very confused as I don't think anybody has ever asked him to be WITH them. All in all, I am really happy with this little horse. :)

Envy

Started Envy's session today with HQ's yield from the ground. She is a very "dull" horse to touch and I had to use quite alot of stimuli to cause her to respond. I found voice was enough. Then more HQ yields and leg yields in the saddle, again, quite alot of stimuli needed - slap leg, slap reins. She gets it, she just thinks about it carefully first. I did do trot and canter today, and WOW, how much better is her canter! She holds it for as long as I ask her too now. It is a little bit of hard work on my part but she is getting easier, but most of what I did today was trying to help her unlock her neck and get her laterally and vertically flexing, just at a walk. I would guess she wore a head check because she really wants to lean on my hands, so we did ALOT of flex release, flex release, flex release. Trying to keep the forward in the walk still there. She did well and really tries but has a bit of trouble letting go of the past habits of racing. I am also really please with Envy, she just takes a little longer to respond but she tries hard.

Envy and Strikers day

First up was Envy this morning. She did extremely well today. The focus for today was teaching her to leg yeild. Standardbreds are typically taught to lean into pressure, ie, to pull a spider they must lean into the pressure of the harness, they are also taught not to bend through there rib cage or neck so this can be a challange for some. Envy picked it up fairly quickly. She did want to lean as soon as the leg went on, but quiet persistance with an increase in pressure and/or sound, coupled with the quick reward (release) and she was picking it up in no time. She was much more flexable to the right and was willing to bend and yeild much easier that way, which is also her easy canter lead. Once she waqs confidently yeilding at a walk, we stepped it up to a trot, which of course was MUCH more difficult for her. She started off quite canter happy and each time my leg went on, she went, "oh I can canter" lol. I just kept persisting until she got the idea what it was I wanted. She never recieved the reward until she found what I was looking for. I didn't hammer her with it tho, just enough until she "got it" then we had a quiet walk around with the two yearling following close by. To finish up we did a bit of canter which she held VERY well, I was really impressed with how much her canter had come along since Wednesday. She picks up her right lead very easily but the left you really have to set her up well before asking. I will always do a bit of canter in each session with a Standardbred, even tho it may not be the focus of the lesson.

Strikers turn. Unfortunetly still a bit foot sore, but again I did some ground work with yeilding with him, then jumped on for a small session of yeilding at the walk, which he picked up straight away. He has such a soft mouth, I have to be very gentle with him. Did a little of trot but not too much. Although he was better than yesterday, I decided it was time for a proper Bowen, so got off and gave him a Bowen and a bath. He was so very sore through the QL, psoas and lumber region, he was buckling under my hands. Tomorrow I won't ride him, I will give the Bowen time to work and just do some more ground work with yeilding.

Envy

Although this blog so far is mainly about Striker, I thought I would also write about another little Standardbred that i am in the middle of retraining. Envy is a friends horse and as I am only seeing her twice a week at this stage, he progress is likely to be slower than that of Strikers. She is a little black mare, about 15hh and is 8? yrs old. A very sweet and pretty girl but can be a little piggy lol. I first rode her a couple of months ago and she was a very typical ex harness horse. Mouth as hard as they come, they more pressure I put on her mouth, the more she gave back. She was looking for something to lean on. Head and neck stuck out like a giraffe, pulling herself along as best she could. Asked to go forward and she had a habit of grunting her disapproveal and trying to throw in a few bucks. Great! I thought. I didn't ride her again until a couple of weeks ago and her training has now commenced. So far I have had 3 rides and one pessoa session which she took to very well. I am very pleased with Envy so far. She has started to carry more of herself instead of relying on my hands, the bucking in protest has nearly been eliminated, although she still grunts and throws her head to show her dissatifaction lol and she has much more balance and rythem. Yesterday we even had a couple of canters, which were extremely hard to push her into to begin with, but with reward offered as soon as she did, rest, she was soon offering it on the first ask with little resistance. I next see Envy on Friday the 22nd. I am really looking forward to seeing what this little mare has to offer.

20th Feb 2008

Striker is still lame today so I had a little ride just to keep the "go forward" fresh in his mind, then did some yeilding HQ's from the ground. He is such a willing little horse. Not much to report until he is over this lameness.

Second day for Striker

19th Feb 2008

Today I put him on the circle online to have a look at him move and assess him a little more. He knows what a circle is (thank god!) so I had little problems. He seemed a little foot sore but i thought I would have a little ride anyway. Started to teach him to yeild him HQ's on the ground in preparation for my leg. He responded very quickly although still having problems with the back end sticking. I am not convinced it is stifle lock, more of a soreness problem. After a walk and trot, I thought I would try out canter today just to see what I have. I was presently suprised. Although I had to push pretty hard to get him to break over, he didn't speed up too much and although he couldn't hold it, what he gave me briefly was a nice 3 beat canter. He still seems a little foot sore so I jumped off and have a look at this feet. They were shocking! Two front club feet! They were so upright!! I'm angry that I didn't check them out first, poor little horse, so I took him back to the stables and did the best job I could. Will see how he pulls up tomorrow.

Strikers first day of training begins

18th Feb 2008

Striker has been here since Friday but due to the Standardbred State Champs I haven't started any work until today. Doesn't matter as it gave him a chance to settle in. Striker has had about 6 rides before he came to me so his training is pretty much all from scratch but as he is only 4 with minimal race starts, he shouldn't have too much problem. It will depend alot on whether he is a natural pacer or not . He is not your typically built Standardbred as he is very fine and quite narrow.
Ok, so today was more of a feeling out session. Just walked and trotted gently around getting to know each other and getting a feel for each other. Very typical of the breed of the track, he has no balance, no direction and absolutely no rhythm at all. Leg means nothing to him (typical again! lol) but he is willing and a very quite little boy so I don't anticipate many problems. He seems to have a few back/hip problems though as his back legs seems to get stuck, stifle lock?? I will have to suss this out but he is extremely sore all though the back, psoas and QL's. Nothing a bit of Bowen won't sort out. I didn't do much today, gave him a light Bowen after I had finished and a nice feed of barley.