Today I found Kai stealing hay under the fence. I laughed and haltered him and took him to the outdoor arena to play a little before I had to go home. I wanted to play with the 22' line but it was frozen stiff so I used the lariat instead.

Kai was feeling a little frisky so I wasn't sure what to expect. I asked him to canter to the left for two laps and because he was feeling very connected I asked him for a flying lead change. I then sent him the other way for half a lap and then asked him for another change. He did another beautiful change so I made sure he was thinking about maintaining gait before bringing him in and giving him a cookie.

I decided to quit the session because he offered very nice lead changes right away. On the way back to the paddock Kai was a little scared of the tractor parked in the driveway. He hesitated and then followed me past. I let him take his time examining the tractor and then put him back in the paddock.

Today I greeted Kai with an apple before heading to the arena, where I began by working on the liberty spins some more.

I then began my lesson with Kaila, focusing on improving our weave, especially helping him not to rush ahead of me when trotting the pattern.


To help with the rushing at the end of the pattern:

I can start and end the pattern with walking and then speeding up in the middle.

I also need to help Kai move healthier and to bend around the cones.

When he is not putting an effort I can ask him to circle around the cone until he is bending again.

I can start the pattern like a figure eight to help with the timing.

If he happens to speed up so much that we lost the rhythm I can turn it into a figure eight.

To Help Kai understand to mind the cones I should playfully tag him every time he knocks one down.

Kaila explained that she almost never does touch it with her horses because it is not a good habit for the horse to get into. The horses will begin to want to stop and touch things at shows or other places that it is not allowed. Not doing touch it helps her to set her horses up for success. What an interesting idea!

I have not visited Kai for about a week because I was caring for Azami (my rat) after her tumor removal surgery.  When I came to the barn, Kai looked like a little wild thing. He was all brown and his coat was clumpy because of the rain.

When we entered the indoor arena I let Kai investigate the toys, and then sent him on a quick circle to observe his movement and he playfully offered some bouncy canter steps. He was playful and very connected so I took the line off and we played at liberty. We did some very nice stick to me and even peppered in some "mirror me". Also we did some circling game at the walk and trot and some yo-yo game. We also worked on a more exuberant draw.

I also began teaching Kai liberty spins. He wanted to back up instead of yielding zone 1 away so I decided to tap behind the drive line with my fingers while sending his nose with my stick to discourage him backing up.

We ended on a good note with the spins so I began his long "heavy duty" grooming.  As I was grooming Kai in the corner of the arena I was listening to the lesson that Kaila was teaching. Ally and her human were working on getting connected on the circle  and pivoting when doing yields. The next lesson was Shane and his human and they were working on friendly game with sudden movements with the flag. Kai was tied in the corner eating hay as I was grooming him and it was a good experience for him to see someone other than me waving the flag.

At first he flinched whenever he saw the flag move quickly but soon he began to ignore it.

When it was dinner time for Kai, I asked him to back up before I set down his dish. I then waited for him to ask a question instead of trying to find a way around me to get to the grain. This time I was more particular and waited for both eyes and ears for more than half a second.

When Kai was done eating and was just licking the bottom of his bucket, I asked him to step back and then I placed a battery operated massager in the bucket. Next, I let him explore the new toy on his own time. When he was done I led him back to the paddock.

What a great session!

Today when we entered the indoor arena I quickly got Kai busy with a puzzle. I was inspired by a youtube video of Honza Blaha asking his horse to do backwards close circles around him. I first made sure Kai had a very light HQ draw on both sides and his yoyo was super light. I gave Kai about two feet of rope and I began to ask him to take a step back and then one step of HQ towards. We repeated this on both sides. I asked him one step at a time and rewarded often. At first it was very slow and Kai was a little bit confused but soon he could go in one full but slow circle without interruptions. As we went along I found that when asking him to take a step back it worked better to porcupine on his chest rather than wiggling the rope to ask him for a step back. We quit when he had a big lick and chew. Then we went outside to work on cantering some more. This time Kai needed only a few reminders to maintain his canter and we quit on four circles each way.

Then we had a little bit of fun playing with sends and traveling circles and changes of direction and energy. I also sent him forward while I walked with intent in a straight line. I wanted him to not cross my line of intent and he did not! He didn't even try to. Then I asked him for a trot and he offered a lovely canter while dragging the rope. I felt him lock on to me so I asked him for a change of direction. Kai offered a beautiful flying lead change. Right after he changed and began to canter on the other lead I felt he was about to break gait so I encouraged him to keep going for a few more strides before bringing him in and emptying my pockets of treats.

We stood there for a little while and then quit the session. I put his cooler on and curried the now dry dirt of off his legs. Then I hosed his legs and thoroughly shampooed them massaging his legs and feeling for any mud fever fungus growth. I did find one spot about the size of a quarter on his pastern on his right hind leg. It was evidently very sore because Kai did everything he could to avoid me touching it. I picked up his leg and put it on my knee like a farrier to try to keep his leg still so that I could massage the spot with tea tree oil infused shampoo. Kai was fidgeting and he somehow lost his balance as he swayed away from me and then he stepped down on the leg I was holding. I got myself out of the way and then quickly corrected Kai so he knew that what he did was absolutely unacceptable and then got back to work on that spot of black growth.

I massaged it off with my fingertips and the tea tree oil shampoo while Kai stood with his body all tense and his lips tightly pressed together but he was not trying to pull his leg away. When I finished the spot was entirely removed. I gave Kai a treat and a rub while telling him what a good boy he was for standing still even though it hurt.

I then played some brief friendly game with my blow dryer and then I dried his legs off with it while my wonderful Dad comforted poor Kai. Eventually his legs were completely dry and his coat remarkably soft and silky and white (just like it is advertised on the shampoo bottle). I stood for a moment relishing how nice his legs were before I slathered Vaseline with iodine and MORE tea tree oil mixed in it on his nice, dry, clean legs all the way up the cannon bone. I massaged it right into the skin for so long that both his legs and my hands were completely ORANGE because of the iodine. The Vaseline is to seal all the moisture out and the iodine and tea tree oil is to kill the mud fever bacteria.

I then put Kai back into the mucky paddock and watched his legs get covered in mud again.

Only time will tell if all my hard work pays off. All I can do is hope that this remedy works and that Kai will be spared of the pain of mud fever.

Lesson with Kaila, November 4

Today I began our session with practicing slow trotting. I sent him on the circle asking Kai to slow down without breaking gait and put slack in the line. He is learning to need less and less reminders and I am making it his responsibility to maintain the speed. Then we worked on transitions on the circle. Later we also did some stick to me, working on staying in sync at the canter. We then worked on transitions from trot to canter as light as possible.

When his breakfast was ready I asked him for a flying lead change and then I allowed him to eat. When he was done it was time for my lesson with Kaila. I have been having trouble with Kai maintaining gait at the canter. Kaila told me to resend him every time he broke into a trot. The more he did it the faster I needed to go though my phases.

We quit when Kai cantered one lap each direction.

Before the lesson I had been unconfident and I had negative expectations without  even knowing. That is why we had so much trouble with cantering. The lesson reminded me once again of the power of expectation.


Friday Nov 6

I had a short session with Kai and progressed to three canter circles in each direction.

I also noticed that the skin on his legs was red and irritated.

Today when I entered the paddock Kai was not putting in any effort to catch me. I stood about ten feet away from him and he did not turn and face. I tagged his bum and he jumped forwards and ran away. Then he turned to face me and asked a question. I invited him in and he eagerly caught me.

The paddock was an absolute marsh because it rained heavily the day before.  Once we made it out of the pasture and into the paddock there was a ditch on the right and deep mud on the left. I usually jump the ditch with Kai at stick to me, but today the banks were too slippery for me to jump with my short legs. I thought about it for a moment and decided to ride Kai over the ditch.

Here was a moment where our "prior and proper preparation" really helped us. I jumped Kai over a barrel once before and had practiced mounting him bareback without a mounting block many times. I trusted Kai and mounted him. I then simply asked him to jump the ditch and he did it perfectly. He was light and responsive and he jumped very steadily and calmly. This was the first time I rode him without playing with him before hand. I am so proud of Kai!

I then tied him in the wash rack and scrubbed his legs with antibacterial soap as a preventative for mud fever.  Since Kai was still damp from the rain I put on his cooler to help him dry off. Next I cleaned up his tail from mud dreadlocks and braided it to keep it neat. By then Kaila moved Jewel (the new pony) out of the arena so that we could play. The arena had lots of toys out and I let Kai investigate them.

Even though the indoor is too small for a 45' circle I decided to put on the lariat anyway. I asked Kai to back up almost to the end of the 45' line and asked him to step  on the pedestal. First with his front feet, then one front foot, and then just the back feet. I then asked him to back up so that his front feet were back on the pedestal. This is pretty hard for Kai because he needs to be coordinated and pay extra attention to where each of his legs are.

I played with sending him at a distance and practiced our draw. Then I coiled up the lariat and put on two feather lines to practice zone 5 driving. I then worked on getting him to be lighter on the halter as he has a tendency to lean on the halter in zone 5.

Jewel has spent the night in a makeshift stall in the end of the arena, before she was turned out with the other horses. It was made with a few round pen panels against the wall. One of the panels was moved from the wall when Kaila was leading Jewel out. I looked at it and saw an opportunity for a "can you challenge". I lined Kai up and asked him to back into the "stall' from zone 5. He did it lightly without even giving it a second thought. Awesome!
 
I then played with lead by the leg with the rope on his front and back feet. I also primed him for the next session by putting the rope around his bum and putting a feel on it. I gave him time to think and released the rope when he leaned away from the pressure. When I am planning to teach him something new I like to "prime" him the session before. I usually do it at the very end of our session when he is very connected. I quit when he is successful and then next session he understands the new game sooooo much faster.

Lately when I put Kai back in the paddock and take his halter off I ask him to do a small task like a few steps of porcupine game or backing up at stick to me and then give him a treat. It needs to be pretty easy and interesting. Today the little task was learning to "smile". I rewarded him for moving his lips a couple of times and asked him to move his lips without me touching his muzzle once. I like to do this sometimes because I do not want him to get into the habit of disconnecting once I close the gate and reach to take his halter off. In my opinion it is good to have this skill if I need him to pay attention for some reason. Then I gave him one last rub and climbed under the fence.