River needs a lot of training (Road to Tevis #105)

Since my last post about her (read it here: Update on River’s progress), I have confirmed that River needs a lot of training. Of course, I knew that from the first. She was an ex-racehorse, and I had a pretty good idea of what that meant. As a racehorse, she would plenty used to carrying people on her back. She would be used to work, and know what it means to work hard. But she wouldn’t know what my legs meant, and she would only understand broad signals from the bit. She would have a much better idea of a flying lead change than most horses, but she wouldn’t be used to lateral flexing, stopping, leg yielding, etc.

Over the last few months, I have discovered that River has a strong personality! Getting her fit will be easy. Getting her trained may prove to be quite challenging.

The very first day River communicated two things to me. First, she was not hot. River is the calmest horse I’ve worked with in decades. She doesn’t waste energy dancing around or snorting. Second, she won’t hesitate to make her displeasure known. If she’s not happy, she slashes her tail, pins her ears, and flings her head up to give me the side eye. (In other words, she’s very much a mare.)

For the most part, River was as expected. She didn’t know what my leg cues meant, she was fussy with the bit. She had some typical racehorse habits involving how she carried her head, what she expected me to do with the reins, and how she thought the ride would play out. River would be very easy to gallop on the track… but very tricky to train (i.e., get speed out of her at the appropriate time). That didn’t matter to me.

For River, the fact that I rode her with a loose rein and with no martingale or training fork caused some insecurity. (A training fork or bib is a species of breast collar attachment used on the track that keeps the reins together and encourages horses to carry their heads in an acceptable position. It works similarly to a running martingale.) She was clearly the type of mare that would throw up her head and say “you run” when pushed the wrong way.

River in the arena

Because attaining rhythm and relaxation requires a lot of repetition in a familiar environment, River will benefit from a lot of “arena work” in the coming months. (Read my post–written soon after I got Jazz–about Working with a green horse.)

My “arena”

I don’t have an arena at home right now. Instead, I do “arena work” in the flattest part of the pasture where my horses live. Over the last several months, the horses have trod a (fairly) round path through the grass. It’s about 38 meters in diameter (I think meters because of endless 20m circles doing dressage). It would be a better circle if I had started it on Fantazia. If you put Fantazia on a bend, she continues that way. However, I started the track with Jazz. He hasn’t really learned to hold a bend (or at least, he had not when he left my care). So the circle is a bit wobbly. It also runs along slightly uneven and relatively hardpacked ground.

Still, it serves its purpose as a reliable training environment. The unevenness is not a bad thing for horses that will be doing endurance. The fact that it’s just like a cattle path provides trail-following practice. River, accustomed to a groomed track, hated it at first. Getting her to trot faster than 5.5 mph is still a chore. At first I had to stand in the stirrups and keep the reins short to get her to canter/lope around the circle without breaking gait or wandering across the pasture.

Above: River is slowly making progress at the lope and trot. She is still fussy with her head and mouth, especially when bored. Her balance and rhythm are improving every day though!

“Real” arenas

The first time I rode River on a groomed surface in a friend’s arena, she was a different horse. She moved out readily, trotting at an easy 8 mph. She still didn’t handle cantering or loping well. As soon as I ask her to move off the rail she gets “lost” and needs support. But she is not at all spooky and is entirely unbothered by other horses backing towards her, changing direction, or otherwise minding their business. (Fantazia won’t get near a horse that is moving backwards or might intersect her path, and she gets spookier the bigger the fence between her and nature.)

River can also be very naughty in an arena. She protests any “ask” that is unclear. The pressure of my legs is beginning to make sense to her, but she doesn’t like it. River wants very light cues, but because she hasn’t been taught what rider legs and hands mean, I have to use large, obvious aides at this point. This frequently elicits pinned ears, head tossing, and the evil sideeye. One day, River decided to try bucking. Repeatedly. She doesn’t buck hard, but she twists her body every which way. And she’s small. Small, twisty horses tend to be harder to stick to when they decide to buck.

We had a reckoning about bucking. I do not like feeling that the front half of my horse is flipping up and down to the right whilst the back half is kicking up to the left.

The day after the bucking incident I took River into a round pen for the first time. I used a flag to test whether she’d been desensitized. I don’t think she has, but it’s hard to tell. She’s generally sensible, so it only took five minutes to teach her to stand stock still no matter what.

Above: River in the roundpen. It was the first time I worked her in one. My chiropracter had had me trot her in one before he worked on her, and that was the only time I’d seen her trot before this.

What River has shown me out on the trail

A few weeks before the Bucking Incident in the arena, River told me loud and clear that she had attittude and was not going to be afraid to use it. It was our second ride out on the trail accompanied, third altogether. The first two rides had shown me that (a) River has a very strong and accurate homing beacon and (b) she gets impatient and quite naughty as soon as we turn for home… especially when returning on the same path we left by. On this third ride, she went completely sideways (literally and figuratively) as we rode down a final steep slope. She threw her head, bucked, and ran sideways along a steep hill under a low tree branch. (Meanwhile, my friend’s horse just watched calmly.)

I try to retrace our steps as little as possible, but my longer rides at home involve 3/4 to 1 mile of walking along the road. River is very good on the way out to the cattle ranch we start on. She is very naughty on the way home. I lead her–and as soon as I’ve shut the gate she rears and bucks. (Last weekend I ponied her on Fantazia, and that was better.)

Unfortunately, River’s sense of direction is good enough that she knows when we are headed homewards even when she has never been along the particular trail. Two weeks ago I was loping in a homeward direction when she kicked hard and would have bucked had I not turned her.

What about scary stuff and challenging terrain?

River is not spooky. She doesn’t spook at cattle, coyotes, feral pigs, bobcats, or wild turkeys. She looks around constantly as we go down the trail, and that’s great. River is still learning to cross water, and can be quite stubborn if she decides she doesn’t want to cross. This mainly happens when we are headed away from home.

Going towards home (or the trailer), River is quite fearless, but she’s also heedless of danger. She has stepped off more than one ledge when ansty. We’ve got a long way to go before I can take her to places like the Marbles.

River does not like going downhill. She especially doesn’t like going downhill when we have just gone up a different route. I firmly believe she is smart enough to think, oh sh*t, if we go down I will have to go back up to get home! Of course, going downhill is difficult. I get off and lead her when it’s a long steep slope. But she has to learn to go down everything. Sometimes she flat out refuses and I have to turn her back and forth.

On the other hand, River will happily go uphill… at least until she gets really tired.

On the bright side, River is not afraid of work

Generally River digs in when faced with a steep hill. In the video below, River wants to trot up a steep hill… and she knew it was steep because she had gone down it a week before.

As an ex-racehorse, River knows what it feels like to be truly tired. She knows what extreme exertion feels like. Part of the reason she’s getting silly on the way home now is that she has not yet gotten truly tired.

On the other hand, I believe she’s finally figuring out what her work will look like–going long distances, climbing hills. As of this writing (and it’s taken me three weeks to write this post!), she’s done two solo rides over 15 miles, both with 2,200′ total elevation gain. Today I rode out with both mares–I rode Fantazia and ponied River for 10.22 miles, rode River 11.1 miles, and finished up on Fantazia (the road) for a total of 22.31 miles in 5 hours, 45 minutes (5:02 moving time), total elevation gain of 3,245′. River was toast at the end, but she attacked every hill with enthusiasm. (And as usual attacked every homeward bound road with too much enthusiasm.)

Above: River expressing her opinion of the stopping to look at the town below. At first the sight made her anxious. I wondered if it reminded her of a track infield.

Things we need to work on

Going downhill. River does not like going downhill, especially when she thinks she might have to climb back up in order to go home. She will stop and refuse to move. Even if I am leading her.
Responding politely to cues and aides. River’s default is to rebel. She slashes her tail, throws up her head, bites the air. (See this video.) In fact, she’s even bitten my foot when I turned her in a tight circle after she bucked. If I smack her with the end of a rope (gently), she will jump straight up in the air with her ears pinned. She will try to bite the rope. Or the whip –Not that I’ve ever punished her with a whip. I carry one to encourage forward motion and to help with cues. Sometimes. Mostly I forget to grab a whip.
Understanding the bit. We’re working on bending and flexing at the poll. It will take a while.
Not bucking or kicking. Simply not acceptable. Luckily she’s not a good bucker, but she sunfishes around, twisting and kicking and trying to get her head down. It’s funny for a few seconds then I get cranky. Today she tried to kick Fantazia when we turned for home. I had to drop Fantazia’s rope and turn River in small circles. That made her try to jump straight up in the air.
Going towards home without bucking, kicking, head flinging, or running sideways. This is very important if I ever want to go back on the Pacific Crest Trail. Hmm. Of course, I could just go down that trail and never turn back,

Things River has already shown great improvement on

Standing still to be mounted. She’s gotten excellent at standing still, wherever.
Opening and closing gates. The last time I rode her alone, we went through seven gates without me dismounting. Yes, it took a while, but she’s learning!
Stopping (ok fine, she is a natural at stopping), standing, and backing. It has taken her a while to understand that I want her to stand still for up to five minutes after stopping. And she even backs uphill now.
Cattle. She was terrified of them at first, now she bosses the steers in her pasture off their feed. Time will tell if she has any real cow instincts.
Turns on the haunches. See the video below!
Carrying my son around the pasture… he’s much bigger than I am. As he put it, 45% heavier. (This because I told him she bucks sometimes. He said she wouldn’t buck with him, and she didn’t!) Video.
Ponying and being ponied. At first, River was almost impossible to pony. I dragged her around a bit with Fantazia, then gave up. Now, however, she’s finally getting it, after miles. I can even use her to pony Fantazia, with only the occasional bite or kick.

Planning an endurance career

River could do an LD tomorrow, but we’ll start with a 50. The last thing River needs is to think her job will be easy. I’m aiming for Fire Mountain, the second weekend in January. I’ll take Fantazia and do one day with her, one with River. River will probably not be ready for a steep mountainous ride, but Fire Mountain is easy desert terrain.

After that, there is the new Fossil Falls ride at Coso Junction. We’ll try for the 50 there too. Then there’s 20 mule team. Fantazia and I have never managed to do 20 Mule team, and I skipped it last year. But I’m hoping River will be ready for 60 miles by then. We’ll have to wait and see.

River needs a lot of training (Road to Tevis #105)

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