DISCOVERIES
My progress and relationship with Kai has progressed in leaps and bounds this past month. I couldn't be more happy with him.

One special session was when I finally felt truly confident when carrot stick riding. Kai has always been a bit offended by the stick and would toss his head in protest. I did lots of friendly game online and freestyle. Driving game on the ground with the stick also worked great. Now I know that he was simply mirroring my expectations. I wasn't even aware that I was expecting him to toss his head.

The moment I changed my expectations Kai responded.  I only used the reins twice and directed him with my seat, the carrot stick, and a neck string. I was impressed with how quickly Kai figured out the neck string. We finished by doing some weaves and figure eights at the walk to cool down.

We also discovered jumping barrels!

Before Kai usually needed some convincing before he would willingly jump barrels. I also needed to put more energy behind him just before the jump so that he would jump higher and not clank his hind legs on it. However after some work Kai got it down pat.

Then we took it one step farther and I asked him to jump at liberty for the first time. When he did it the first time I gave him a bite of sweet feed and then he happily jumped at liberty in hopes of more. A couple of days later I had a crazy idea.... I decided to jump barrels freestyle. I have not jumped for a couple of years let alone bareback. I tacked him up and did  pre ride checks and asked him to jump once in each direction. We did sideways and nine step backup and then just went for it. Kai carried me over very smoothly and carefully. What a good, good boy!!!!!!!!!!! I was especially proud of how he tolerated my despicable riding position. I jumped a few more times and I progressed to the point where I could stay pretty relaxed and not hold my breath.

We quit on the best one and I fed him a stud muffin for being the best pony ever! I will absolutely not be jumping on him regularly. This was just for fun and confidence. I am so proud of Kai!

AUDITIONS FILMED AND BEST TRAIL RIDE EVER!

That morning I tacked up and did our usual online routine.  Then I had a wonderful warm up ride. I was playing the game of ''don't make me pick up the reins!''. Later my Mom came to help me film a L2 freestyle  audition attempt. I was very happy with the video and it was the one I ended up submitting. I decided to go on a celebration trail ride.

Kai was soft and responsive the entire time and did not even think about responding to Tuffy's neighs (Tuffy does not give up calling until Kai comes back. The thing is that we never ride far enough
 away to not hear him).

We rode farther than ever before and explored a meadow that I have always just passed by before. I decided to go for a (very very short) canter. My mom took some awesome pictures. Thanks Mom!

Once Kai decided to swerve and duck under a tree branch at the very last minute. I did not want to do lateral flexion under the tree branch and there was no time to do that before as he was cantering. I did do an emergency stop right after and then made him do lots and lots of HQ and FQ yields. The pictures were so worth it though. This also happened to be the first time I asked him to canter outside an arena. We explored somee one's very  very very very long grassy driveway and even cantered down it. Then we headed back to the barn.

RANDOM CLOSING THOUGHTS

We are working a lot on cantering lately as well. We got to the point when Kai will canter with me at stick to me and he will make a light transition from trot to canter during circling game. However he still does not maintain it all the way around. I would like some lessons with Kaila to continue his progress with this to help me with my confidence.

What an amazing September it was! This was the very best vacation of my life! And, I managed to film three auditions. But, most importantly, I got over my fear of cameras.  What an awesome little horse Kai is. I can't thank Daphne enough for allowing Kai to stay at her barn. We have never progressed so fast before and our relationship has never been so strong.

We worked on improving his canter. I asked him to canter at stick to me and then by himself on the circle. However he still has a little trouble maintaining gait without reminders. I am excited that the trotting slower exercise also translated to cantering slower. He bends to the inside so nicely.

The next day my friends came to visit Kai and me. At first I did some circling game and stick to me and a little bit of ground driving. Then Gail and Karen took turns playing with him.  It was interesting to observe someone else play with Kai. It was wonderful to see how he offered to canter on the circle and how he was very responsive to body language. I think I am now more aware about my own horsemanship after this get together.

Since we got here we did not play with any toys. However, we did play with natural obstacles like logs, puddles, trees, bushes etc. Today I had a deflated air mattress that Dad said I could play with before throwing it out and I made a special set up for my session with Kai. As I was spreading it out Kai noticed me. He came over to the fence line and watched me. When I was done I went over to his section of the paddock and invited him to catch me. I should mention that the arena is connected to the rest of the paddocks and is usually used as another paddock. I put a neck rope on Kai and started to lead him around to the entrance of the arena. As we were approaching the mattress Kai became alert and arched his neck. I have never done friendly game with him at liberty before. The beauty of it is that Kai expresses his thresholds very clearly.

On line Kai makes an effort to walk to me past a perceived danger. Now, at liberty, he stopped and I asked him to back up. I walked over to the mattress myself and stood on it and then walked back to Kai and invited him to go investigate together. As we got to about ten feet away Kai bolted away from it for about twenty feet before turning around and looking at me. I must have missed him telling me that that was his threshold.  

He connected again and eagerly came beside me before looking at the mattress. I again stood on it and this time Kai stayed with me and sniffed it. Then he cautiously stepped on it with one foot and then the other, this time more bravely. He walked across it with his head low. I stopped directing him and watched Kai figure it out. I videotaped him playing with it.

When he finished we did some stick to me. I noticed that online he easily plays stick to me on both sides however at liberty he really prefers me on his left side. I rubbed him a lot on the right side of his neck to help balance that. I am guessing this started because I like to hold the stick in my left hand a bit more so he goes on the opposite side of it and now it just became a habit. I worked on walk to trot to halt to back up transitions. I also spent time on his right side and by the end of the session he was more balanced.

We also did some preparation for liberty circles by me “trotting” a tiny circle and Kai trotting around me in a bigger circle. So far we can do transitions from walk to trot and a slow change of directions. I can even stop trotting myself and just turn with him while still maintaining my energy. I think pretty soon we will progress to real circles where Kai does all the work.

I decided to see if he will mirror me and canter if I cantered. When I started to canter on the circle Kai lifted his energy but did not canter. I continued for one lap and at the start of the second lap he cantered two steps before drifting away from me. I disengaged his HQ and praised him excitedly as I have previously learned that he really learns well with this kind of praise. I got a cookie and thought that I would try to canter with him one more time. This was a mistake on my part as he immediately became disconnected. It is worth noting that this entire session the gate out of the arena was open and he could leave at any time. However he never went much past the gate even though he could get far away if he felt like it. He always came back willingly. We got connected again and I asked him to trot around me. Just when he thought I was going to ask him to canter (I could see it on his face) I asked him to draw in towards me. We did some more trotting and walking circles. Then I happily sat down and he put his nose in my lap.

My thoughts on cantering and a wonderful follow up session

 I think he got emotional when I asked him to canter once and I did not see it and went up my phases anyway. I think this is why he gets upset when I ask him to canter. I will try fixing this issue by waiting for him at phase one and by asking him at stick to me to keep my core of off him.

I visited Kai later today and he caught me which indicates that he was happy with our earlier session. I put on the neck rope and we walked to the arena. Then I asked him to trot in a circle at stick to me and I lifted my energy and cantered. I kept cantering for two laps and then Kai joined me and we cantered together for half a circle at liberty.

First Breakthroughs

Kai arrived to Bell’s Cove on August 30th to be with us for the month of September. On arrival he was really chill. He even peed on our landlords’ lawn, making a very good first impression.

The first couple of days were spent on both of us adjusting to being in a new place. I was in a tent by myself for the first time (and it really sucked because I kept rolling off the air mattress) and Kai was getting used to his new herd mates over the fence. This was also the time for the first important and special breakthrough of this month.

After playing and getting connected I worked my way in stick-to-me down to zone 5. I did friendly game with my stick and string and lead line on his legs. Then I simply went ahead and attached 2 feather lines to make driving lines. Earlier I had practiced clucking to him to go, so I brought my energy up and clucked to him. For the first time ever he walked off without turning around. His ears were flickering back and forth—I’ve never seen him as unsure. We practiced stopping and starting in a relatively straight line. I was very proud of how quickly he caught on at stopping and starting very lightly. I’ve tried directing from zone 5 before, but he always got confused and turned around to face me when I got much past zone 4. But now all of a sudden he just understood that I could direct him from zone 5. What a genius horse! We even progressed to a little bit of trotting. I was so happy with his breakthrough that I was jumping for joy and Kai mirrored me with his happy and excited energy.

I never thought I’d work on new things so soon after the move, but it felt so right and he seemed so ready.
We were so connected after the ground driving that I went on my first mini-ride since coming here. I rode around the outdoor arena, directing him with my body, playing with transitions and mostly just enjoying the ride.

The next day I spent a lot of time grooming him. He likes to be curried. We did a little bit of stick-to-me and I started rocking forward and leaning back for him to mirror me. I’ve never done this before and he got this right on the first try.

Who’s the Leader

We were playing the circling game in the outdoor arena and when I asked him to trot he pulled away from me (towards the other horses) really roughly. I let go off the rope as not to get rope burn. I chased him for 6 laps around the arena until both of us were tired. Just in the beginning of lap 7 he leaned towards me. I stepped back and he immediately gave me 2 eyes. I think he wanted the chasing game to stop—he did his speediest trot when coming towards me. I smiled and rubbed him and we continued the circling game. He pulled away from me one more time, but this time it took him one lap to soften. The next time he just trotted around me, bending beautifully. In fact, I was so pleased with his movement and bending that I brought him in right away, as I learned from Don Halladay, circling game is better with quality rather than quantity. When Kai came in he yawned repeatedly. The following day we had a similar connection issues, but he not only connected much quicker, but he yawned repeatedly as well.

Meeting the Ocean

I picked out a quiet little cove to walk Kai to for his first introduction to water. We found an entrance to the beach between the rocks, but there was a barrier of washed up seaweed. Kai put is head down and snorted and looked at me like I was crazy. I stepped on it to set a good example, then backed him one step before asking him to step on it with me. He took a deep breath and then calmly stood on the seaweed with me. Then we got to the actual sea. He was so busy looking at the seaweed that he didn’t notice that the waves were in fact moving! He arched his neck and he huffed and puffed, but I got him thinking about me and he began to mirror my calm energy. After some approach and retreat Kai was standing right at the water’s edge, so that the waves couldn’t touch his hooves. Then all of a sudden a wave came and touched his hooves! He jumped backwards. It was a special moment when the ocean first touched him. It was funny to me, but he probably was quite scared. I suppose it was good for him that I was happy and light hearted so he could mirror me. Eventually he walked in just past his pasterns and we quit on that.

Margo

When you show your love for horses, you meet wonderful horse people everywhere! I was taking Kai for one of our trail walks and as we were returning home a neighbour (turns out she is a former dressage trainer!) came to meet me with a  book and a bitless bridle. I immediately fell in love with the bridle. It was unlike any other bitless bridle I’ve ever seen as it didn’t cross under the jaw but was a direct side pull. The leather was stamped with “made in England”.

The Horseman’s Encyclopedia by Margaret Cabell Self was first published in 1946 and the book itself was rather old. Some old books advocate really crude training methods, but this one isn’t like this.

I’ve talked to Margo several times already and I loved listening to her explaining training methods of classical dressage.


Trust and Never Say Never

    The first trail ride was a momentous day because I put a lot of trust into Kai. I’ve seen other people having trouble trusting their horses, and I never thought it would be an issue for me. I’ve always known that having trust in him is good for his well being. However, there hasn’t been an opportunity yet where I felt I could put the trust issue to a test.  

The groundwork session was pretty ordinary. He was connected on the circling game. I rode him in the arena, and even though at the beginning of the session I was certain this wouldn’t be the trail ride day, I made the decision to take him outside. I had already walked the trail myself many times and was very familiar with it. And I had walked that same trail with Kai about 5 times by then.

My last trail ride was 5 years ago, when I was just learning to ride, and it was at a trail ride place. As I was doing lateral flexion before going out of the gate I was getting pretty excited. We got out into the driveway and practiced stopping and couple of times. He was a little bit reluctant to turn off the road into the woods, but otherwise it was a magnificent trail ride.

First Swim

    At the end of our first trail ride I thought we’d go and splash around in the ocean, as it was a very hot day.
    
We came to our little cove, and Kai refused to go deeper without me leading him, so I took off my boots and waded in with him.

When the water was deep enough to swim Kai tried a funny underwater trot and at the last moment he decided to swim. I was not majestically on top of him, but instead I was hanging on his mane. Then we scrambled out of the water—anything but gracefully.

We’ve been to two other swims since then. He was never really scared, and the bottom was rocky and firm, but I believe he was a little bit overstimulated. The second time we went for a swim, he was having fun, but then suddenly thought, “MUST GET TO SHORE!” and slowly but powerfully trotted to shore. He was unstoppable and I glided behind him on the lead rope. When the water got more shallow I let go of the rope. He stopped and turned around to look at me with surprise. I scrambled out of the water and we stood next to each other, dripping wet.

So we did lots of approach and retreat until he knew we were going in and out with the speed that I wanted and to the depth that I wanted. The last time I took him in he followed me without hesitation up to his chest, and then we walked out calmly and without rushing.

Trotting Speeds

That was another ordinary session where we were just improving our 7 games, until I asked him to go on the circle. He was trotting pretty quickly and looked rather frantic. Without thinking about it, I told him, “Kai, slow down,” in a low voice. For the first time ever he started trotting significantly slower. I asked him to disengage his hind quarters and invited him in, praising him a lot. He’s always had a pretty quick trot, and I don’t think it has occured to him to trot slower.

By the end of the session he’d mirror my energy and we have established 2 distinct speeds: a working trot and a pleasure trot. It was a very exciting moment and another big break through for this month so far.