2013 goals

The first in my three post mini series on the year end wrap up.

This year has been full of awesome fun stuff and setbacks for me and Shyloh. But how have we done with our goals so far? My 2013 goals have been listed under a tab labeled "2013" on the blog.

Goal 1: Drive a Cart with Shy

Done. We got the cart and I drove her for the first time in March. Then we had an accident. But we have some awesome friends who helped us get over that. We even drove in this show and this show!

Now sure why I am cut out?

Goal 2: Ride

No. We spent the majority of the year focused on driving. I tried doing both the year before and it was too much, so this year we cut out riding. So no riding.

Goal 3: Go on at least one trail ride

Yeah, no. Well, maybe kinda. I went on some trail drives that were not with Shy, here and here and here. I took Shy out a lot and we did some line driving on the trails and walking the trails several times. But I am going to go with a not completed for this goal.

Good to know my pony doesn't care about puddles!

Goal 4:Get at least one ribbon in the Northwest Ohio Driving Circuit
Yes! We got a first and second place in Halter classes, a couple of fifth places in Trail in Hand, a fifth place in Draft Working Cart, a third and fifth place in Line Driving Obstacle, a fourth place in Showmanship,, and a first place in a fun class where you had to drive the horses hooked to a sled through a course and spill the least amount of water from a bucket on the sled. Shy teamed with Art for this. Beth drove Shy and Art in a couple classes and took first and second with them. 

The ribbons we earned!

Goal 5:Continue working on trick and clicker training
So so. I do this when the weather is bad or I don't really feel like doing anything else, or we need a break. But nothing new or really awesome was done with that. The bow is taking a lot of time because Shy won't put herself in that position at all. She feels too vulnerable. 

Standing on the mat and smiling. Skillz

Goal 6: Continue keeping Shy happy and healthy
Done! We have not had anything issues with my hardy horse. We have the vet out for shots and the dentist out for a float. Farrier comes out on a regular basis for trims. We had a slight issue with weight, but I think that is under control now since we surgically removed Shy from the round bale.

Overall, we completed about half our goals and did some work on all but one. Up next is our whole year in review. 

How has everyone else done with their 2013 goals?

labor day fun!

What a fun Labor Day! I was not ready to go back to work today. After some much needed sleeping in, I headed out to the barn, I had no plans, but when I got there Jaime and Kyle were hitching up Notch and Clutch.

So I went with them for a drive into town. 

Down the road

Into town. Nothing bothers these guys. Except giant beach balls.

On the way back, we made a couple stops. . .

Fill 'em up!

Had to get some groceries for later

Those are some great horses!

Shady was in a silly mood all day, too.  She was zipping around the pasture like a nut and bossing the big horses around. Donkey is soo funny! Later in the day, she was in the back trails running around and just having so much fun. And Notch and Shy groomed each other for about ten minutes. . .that might explain the thinning mane section.

Eventually I got Shyloh out and took her to the round pen. I think that is her comfortable spot and she seems to like it much better than the hitching post. We did some clicker training and I think Shy is finally getting the first part of this trick I am trying to teach her. 

Then, I decided, hey, I'll get on her bareback again. . .Shy had other thoughts which included continually knocking over the bucket, standing over the bucket, and stepping on my foot. 

What's in the bucket?

Fall down bucket!

I even tried to get on her from afar. . .

If I had ever tried this with Shy before, she would have been so nervous. Now, it doesn't faze her.

But that didn't work. So I had to get reinforcements in the form on Kyle. Then it was no problem. I sat for a minutes then I asked Shyloh to walk on. She cocked a back leg, which threw me into a tilt. I got her squared and squeezed for her to walk on. Nothing. So I asked her to disengage her hind end. Nothing. She was falling asleep. At least she felt comfortable!

Kyle had an idea to entice her to walk to him with a peppermint. It worked! Then she tried to fall back asleep. Crazy pony. Kyle walked us around the round pen with a peppermint to get Shy moving. Wow is my balance terrible, but Shy is pretty comfy. I should probably use the saddle. I didn't stay on long. After that I spent some more time with her just doing nothing.

Later, we all decided to take some horses around the back property. Jaime was going to try Isaac, someone was going to ride Reba, and I was going to drive Dexter, the driving pony. Much, much later, I finally caught him. I thought those days were over! Dexter does not like to be caught or harnessed. He is very well trained, but I think he has had some bad experiences with people. Once he has the cart on, he is all business. Dexter has a cute four wheel cart.

Dexter is so fun to drive! We cruised along the trail that is cut around the soybeans, leaving the others behind. Turns out, no one made it due to various issues. When we got back, we tried to make a turn and almost flipped the cart! Oops! I hopped out quick and Dexter was so calm about the whole thing. Looks like the front spring thing has snapped in the middle at some point and fell down, which caused the cart to be unable to make the turn. It was not a problem during my drive because we never made sharp turns. 

See Shy watching as me and Dexter return? Could it be that she was jealous that I took another horse driving? Ha!

After a day filled with horsey fun, we had a bonfire and some s'mores. Why can't every day be like this?

good times

We stepped back and stuck with some simple things all week. I took Shyloh to the round pen (because it was shady and an enclosed area where she could be loose but not get far), and we worked on clicker training. 

How I have found Shy, muzzle-less and halter half off. She is becoming quite good at this now.

It was so worth it! We did a bunch of stuff Shy already knew, just as a refresher and for her to gain confidence on doing the right thing. We worked on backing (always a challenge) and sidepassing. Shy was a sidepassing rock star!

I was loving how Shy was choosing to be stay focused on me instead of all the grass around her. We took lots of breaks and kept everything very simple and stress free. One time, I was sitting in the grass and Shy came up to me, which is rare for her. I asked her for a couple things, clicked and treated. Then I took a phone call. Shy hung around for a little longer, then wandered off to graze. When I hung up, she came back to me!

Done talking now? Is it my turn?

Another day, I used a flag with Shy. At first, she trotted away from it, but not in a terrified way, more in a fun way. Then I clicked and treated her for touching it, holding the flag in her mouth, and eventually wearing the flag!

Patriotic pony!

I also encouraged Shy's natural curiosity. She messed around in my grooming bag looking for goodies. When I took them all out and put them on the other side of the round pen, Shy upended the bag, spilling everything out. 

Searching.. . .

Dumping!

Finally the day came when I decided to put on some big girl panties. . .

I took Shy to the round pen, grabbed her bridle and a bucket, and got on Shy. Well, it wasn't quite that simple. At first, Shy kept knocking the bucket over with her nose. Over and over. Then, when I stood on the bucket, she would swing her rear end away. So, I tried to put Shy between the round pen panel and the bucket, but Shy just sidepassed over the bucket. And, because I am supposed to be the smarter one, I grabbed the clicker and treats. I clicked and treated until I got Shy to stand where I wanted her to stand. Then I swung a leg over. I sat on my pony! 

Happy days!!

I was pleased. Shy felt calm, relaxed, and very comfy. When she is tense and nervous, I can always tell, the tension just radiates off of her. But today, super calm. Even so, I climbed off. Then I did it again. We stood there, just the two of us, relaxing. I asked her to move over, she did. I asked her to turn on her front legs, she did. We walked a little. I praised a lot. I got off and praised her some more. All in all, I spent about five minutes up there, but it was a great five minutes.

Did I mention this was bareback? I had not ridden bareback since I fell off, so long ago. And I had not ridden Shy since May, which was one reason I only spent a few minutes on her (the other was that I was alone). 

Happy horse!

This week has been good for both of us. There was a driving show this weekend, I went to watch and help out, but I did not take Shy. It was fun, check out some photos on Shy's page!

back to clicking

My first time out to see Shyloh since the show and all the work she put in there. She was totally fine and did not appear to be sore. . .in fact, she was rather spunky. 

She is also very clean from the rain we have had!

I decided to try something we have not done in six months or so. . .clicker training! I wanted to do something with Shy and it was too hot and humid to do anything else. So, I grabbed the clicker and some hay pellets and got to work.

Um. . .I had not planned this in advance and just thought about doing it on the way to the barn and I had a hard time recalling what we have went over. Bad clicker trainer. I ran through our tricks. Click and treat. I practiced having her pick each foot up. Click and treat. We worked on yielding her hind quarters. Click and treat. We worked on side passing. Click and treat. We worked on backing. Click and treat. I was amazed by how Shy retained all of the stuff we had been doing! Click and treat!

Then I decided to get our mat out. I put it down and told Shy to go to her mat. And she did!

Hurrrrr, I'm on the mat!

We had not done anything with the mat in an even longer time. But Shy remembered like a pro! I worked on having her stand on the mat while I walked around her. I worked on having her walk to the mat from a distance. She was even able to fix her feet when I asked by making sure both hooves were completely on the mat. 

I think Shy likes doing this stuff because we were doing it completely off the lead. Shy could have walked away or ignored me at any time, but she chose to stay. Happy me!

By now, I was dripping in sweat from the heat. I decided to have a little  fun with Shy and I put her in the pasture with the pond. I wanted to see what she would do. 

Splash face in pond

Wade in pond

Watch duck in pond

Eat grass near pond

Run from me

And when I was ready to bring her back, Shy wanted to play catch me if you can. I finally caught her when she stopped to pee. Otherwise, I think I would still be chasing after her.  I am thinking I want to get back into clicker training with Shy and teach her a few more tricks and useful things. 

winner winner

. . .chicken dinner!

We won something!! Shyloh's horse shaming was the randomly selected winner at Kate's blog. We did not win by popular vote, but, hey, we won! I have to say, there are some pretty bad horses out there! Take a look at some of the entries. . .I am glad Shy just has a bit of an attitude. Kate is going to do a watercolor portrait of Shy. I am so excited!!

As for Shy, I went to see her today and oooh was she being a sass. Just attitude! I wanted to see her without doing any cart work today. I am trying to work on a new trick with her. I saw a Haflinger do it last year at Equine Affaire and I just remembered it over the weekend. I am not entirely sure Shy gets what I am clicking for yet. The trick involves fine motor movements, so it is hard and I have to time my click just right. We will get it, it will just take us longer than any of the other tricks we have done. 

Take a look at this sassy pants with her poof ball forelock:

Troll hair!

like a boss. . 

Keep that tongue in your mouth missy!

nom nom

monday musings by shyloh #72

I have to say. . .I am pretty proud of Allie. She has come so far in her human training. And she has trained with the best. . .me!

Chillin with my homies

Allie now knows not to take my crap. She knows that I am pretending or trying to get out of work 99% of the time. And for the 1% of stuff that is actually really scary, Allie knows to take it slow. 

Allie knows that I am a horse and sometimes I don't think about work stuff all the time. There is much more important things to think about, like food. So I sometimes forget. But more often than not, I am just testing. I need to know Allie means it when she says something. And when I do really forget, Allies doesn't get mad, she just takes a step back and practices whatever it is with me until I get it.

Let's take the other day. . .we had worked and worked on standing. Sometimes, I just don't want to stand still, I want to keep going and explore. But Allie practiced on saying stand and meaning it, so I finally thought she meant business. Then she hooked the tire on me. I hadn't had the tire on since there was snow on the ground. So I pretended to be scared and moved my legs real fast. But I guess that doesn't fool Allie anymore. So I just did my work. Even when we went over straw or gravel, I didn't care. See?

Allie also knows that when we do hard work, it's nice to balance it out with some fun stuff. Like smiles and treats!

I have to say, I have a pretty good deal. . .and a very trainable two legger!

Oh, and look at the present I got from Notch and Clutch and Isaac's mom!

The cutest cooler ever! Allie says now she is going to have to work me until I sweat now. Good luck with that I say!

~Shyloh

refreshers

I decided that Shyloh needed a little break from line driving, pulling, and the harness in general, since we had been going at it pretty hard core. This week has been devoted to clicker training, stand, and some fun stuff.

Shy got her hooves trimmed earlier in the week. She is always so good for the farrier. While we were waiting for him to get to the barn, I took Shy for a trail walk on one of the trails. I really think she is going to be a good trail horse. Heck, she probably is already a good trail horse, I just need to get my butt up there and go! And get a saddle. . .

Shy is very relaxed in the woods. Leaf sounds, branches scraping her, logs on the path. . .nothing is a bother. She had no problem walking over two pretty big sized fallen trees (yet when round penning her over ground pulls, she tried everything to avoid them). 

She loves to eat leaves

We even found a turkey feather! But no sign of the turkey.

Another day, we worked on standing. I stood next to her and made her keep her head straight. Click and treat. Then I kept moving back until I could go all around her without her moving. And then I switched to doing the whole thing again on the other side. We have done this exercise before, so Shy just needed a refresher. 

After that I worked on having her stand while I increased my distance from her. Click and treat. This worked well until she discovered some other horses poop that she desperately needed to smell. When I got a good stand, I let her smell it until she was satisfied. Then I had her attention back.

We also worked on smile since Shy had been getting lazy with this trick. And we continued to work on clicking and treating for picking up each hoof when asked. All in all, I am happy with how Shy is doing.

Another variant of the stand command was using it while walking together. So instead of asking Shy to stand and I walk away from her, I lead her, ask her to whoa, then ask her to stand. We did this around the property and Shy was pretty much perfect with it. Which shows she knows the command, she is just being a brat. 

I probably will go over these again and then start back with the line driving. It never hurts to go through some refreshers!

de-stress

Shyloh has done her job perfectly today. I think I am de-stressed and ready to tackle the work week. It seems that stress is going around in a few of my blogger friends lately. I hope their ponies work some magic on them, too!

It is odd to be 55 degrees F in December. Maybe in Florida or California that is normal, but in Michigan this weather is far from normal. And then there is the rain. . .and the mud. Needless to say, I arrived at the part to a pony with a wet top half and a muddy bottom half. Anthony showed me how to wrap her tail so it would not drag in the mud. Even though I had it braided, the bottom was still a muddy mess.

Today was also the barn Christmas party and some horses got all decked out for the occasion!

Brenda and Buddy

Faith

We got some delicious food and we hung out with horses and horse people. It was a nice party! And a new horse arrived! A five year old blue roan Tennessee Walker! Doesn't he have the cutest baby face?

Jose

After the festivities, I decided to pull Shy back out of her pasture and work with her on bridling. Lately (well, maybe for longer than I like to admit), Shy has been clamping her teeth shut and forcing me to stick my finger in her mouth to get it to open to put the bit in. She doesn't pull her head away or fight it in any other way. It hasn't been difficult to deal with, since she never fought me sticking my finger in her mouth, but it was annoying and bothersome, especially with a driving bridle. 

So I took out the clicker and we went to work. I used the command "open" and after four or five successful clicks and treats, Shy was opening her mouth without a problem. That clicker is like magic! The video starts out with Tony braying in the background. I only got one try, because all the others were out of screen shot. But at least this one was a success!

We took a break from that and worked on another behavior. I want Shy to pick her hooves up on command. She is already really good at picking them up when I pick her hooves, but it would be cool to have to pick them up with a word. I tapped a leg, said "foot" and when Shy picked it up, click and treat. Shy got this really quick, too. The back legs were much better and more controlled for picking up. The front legs need a some more refinement, since she wants to wave with them. But I was pleased with her progress! I even switched up the order I did the legs each time.

We hung out and Shy worked her de-stressing on me me some more. I grabbed a bucket, stood on it, and hung over her. She was so good. When I was done, Shy was feeling playful and was playing with the bucket. When I put her back in the pasture, Shy had her crew waiting in the back for her, and Jessie waiting up front. Silly ponies!

Zanna, Lukas, and Tony waiting for Shy to join them in the mud pit

Jessie waiting up front

Back together again!

equine therapy

Today was a rough day at work., I was in desperate need of some equine therapy after work. My job is stressful enough without having to do other people's work while they sit around doing nothing. And on top of that, the things I heard today made me want to vomit in my mouth. Gross. Okay, enough work rant. I am so very much looking forward to a little break for Christmas and New Year.

Sometime, you just need to hug a horse

Shyloh did her job very well today as an equine therapist. She got my mind off of everything stressful. I took my time grooming her then put her harness on. 

Yesterday, we had a great day! I worked on line driving Shy at the trot and I was very pleased with the results. Usually Shy won't keep the trot up, but yesterday she had a beautiful slow jog and was gee'ing and haw'ing like a pro! She was going so well, that even though I felt like I was going to pass out from all that running behind her, I kept it up as long as I could. Good pony.

The line driving is doing Shy a lot of good. It is getting her comfortable with me behind her and she is listening very well. Today we worked in the paddock with all the trees. We did lots of sharp turns, then I decided to try something new. I wanted to back her through two trees. After she finally backed through, I did not work her very much longer. Short successful sessions are best, plus my head was not in the right place. 

Now for the fun stuff!

It's cute to watch Shy figure out her legs. She always starts with them too close for her big head. I did notice a couple times when I should have clicked (I was trying to click when she went on the toe of her right leg). But I had a hard time seeing around that giant noggin!

After my therapy session with Shy, I have headed home for a quiet evening on the couch to not think about anything work related until Monday. I hope to book a weekend full of horse therapy. I need it! Anyone else have any grand horse plans?