# Building a partner - Rain's progress



## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Oh, I love these kinds of journals! I am really looking forward to what you write.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Wow this is really nice. I'll follow along. Sounds like you're doing a great job!


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## Palfrey (May 29, 2020)

Amazing progress, thanks for sharing!


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## KharenasMom (6 mo ago)

Subscribed!
Looking forward to seeing your progress!


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

To my surprise, today Rain actually approached _me _in the pasture! 








We tried ground driving with just her halter to see if she responded any better without a bit. She did! She was just as responsive and much less distracted. We continued working on walk on, left, right, and halt. The up and down transitions are the toughest since the verbal cues haven't started sticking yet. Her left and right still need work because she tends to decide on a direction on her own and ignore the direct rein cue, then when the rein cue is loud enough, she suddenly turns all at once and then I have to correct in the other direction. And that's perfectly fine - if she was perfect from the start then she wouldn't be a project! I had to be more mindful of how loud I allowed the cue to get and she had to start listening to the cue sooner, and we both improved in those respective areas by the end.

I did some more quick backings to end the session on a good note. I intentionally bumped her and rubbed her with my foot as I swung over so that if she _was_ going to react, it would be before I got on fully. She took a step over after I got on in the video below, which again, is perfectly fine at this stage in her training. She's overall willing and tolerant which is what matters most, and rewarding the try is more important to me than micromanaging.

Don't mind April photo bombing  and don't mind Rain hitting every single pole in the first video - her toes are very long since her owner has her on a sparse farrier schedule, so I'm just going to trim them myself next time I get the chance. She doesn't hit them at all when we first start working so I think there's an element of laziness or tiring too. I also didn't realize until I watched the video that my left rein - though not making direct contact - was shorter than the right when I asked her to walk on, and I do think she started stepping left because she _is_ just that sensitive.


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## dustyk (Nov 14, 2020)

When you are ground driving it might help if you can run your long lines through a lower place on your surcingle. If they are more along her side you can use the line opposite your turn as an aid to slow the "all or nothing" turn. If you're turning left you can snug the right line up against her buut to help make it less of a spin.
Something I always dod when ground driving standardbred babies.


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

dustyk said:


> When you are ground driving it might help if you can run your long lines through a lower place on your surcingle. If they are more along her side you can use the line opposite your turn as an aid to slow the "all or nothing" turn. If you're turning left you can snug the right line up against her buut to help make it less of a spin.
> Something I always dod when ground driving standardbred babies.


The outside rein is actually up against her butt/behind her stifle just as you describe (despite being on the higher ring) and is what stopped her from spinning all the way around. I usually go for the higher ring because it more closely simulates where the reins will be when ridden, and sometimes the lower ring makes the reins too perpendicular to their face and might encourage lifting their head to resist it. Completely depends on personal preference!


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

Rain got her front feet trimmed today. I'm starting to get more insight into her personality - she reminds me an awful lot of the Connemaras I've known who are fantastic athletes but will walk all over you if you don't know what you're doing and will make your life very hard if you don't do things the exact way they expect.

Rain was great for me when I trimmed her front left. Stood perfectly still, no fuss. A friend was at the barn with me and watched me trim since she's wanted to learn and Rain has great feet for learning (no defects and naturally balanced, just quite long). Then I let her try trimming the front right. My friend has more horse experience under her belt than I do, but less finesse and patience with naughty ponies. Rain refused to pick up her foot, then when it was picked up, she intentionally unbalanced herself to fall forward.

With my help keeping Rain balanced, she was able to get the nippers all the way around her toe and quarters, but it was downhill from there. My friend is the type that escalates punishment quickly when horses aren't obeying and that clashed too much with Rain's personality. Not that I think she should get away with this behavior, but my correction was much better received when I stepped in after they struggled and fought for a while which resulted in a partial rear on the cross ties. At that point I stepped in to let everyone decompress, and started over again myself. She picked up her foot for me without a fuss and let me finish the trim without a fuss. She tried to shift at first but a quick "ah ah!" told her I meant business without picking a fight and she quit. Typical testy pony that won't tolerate strong correction.

We did some ground driving after that - she's just about mastered left and right now with no dramatic spins. The only time we have direction disagreements now is when she decides on a direction because of a distraction, but otherwise if she's listening she doesn't take a wrong step. She is getting much better about "walk on," only needing to be reminded with a wave of the rein buckle very occasionally. We left the indoor to ground drive around the driveway and through the outdoor arena. She was a lot more distractible with the other horses within view and made a couple attempts to join them, but for the most part she went around and listened as much as I'd expect her to.

Halt is now her only big weak point of the core ground driving skills - she will still sometimes attempt to walk through the pressure before coming to a complete stop. We had a few very good halts toward the end at which point I ended the session on a great note. Whenever we get to the point of reliably halting, I'll feel confident enough to start sitting on her at the walk.


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## KharenasMom (6 mo ago)

Really sounds like excellent progress!


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

Two days ago, we worked on ground driving again with the goal of solidifying the halt, and we achieved it! She stopped abruptly with minor cues in the video but I'd rather have her stopping abruptly than not stopping at all. Cleaning it up is something that we can work on with time. Since she consistently responds to left, right, walk on, and halt cues now, I feel confident getting on her in our next session.

I put the reins on a lower ring just out of curiosity to see how she would respond and she head tossed quite a bit at the start. That's honestly what I was expecting and why I had her on the higher hole. But in the end she did fine and we'll just go back to the higher ring if we revisit ground driving in the future.


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

Last Tuesday, we had our first ride!

She was a total gem. She didn't understand what leg meant, of course, but as soon as I asked her to walk on she listened and went right ahead. I'm impressed by her intelligence - it might not seem like much to others but she catches onto concepts and retains them a lot faster than April does.

We just spent five minutes walking with intermittent stops and starts. At one moment, she had a minor spook scoot, but she got over it just as fast as it happened. Her halt at the end was responsive and quiet. I really couldn't have asked for a better first ride.

I didn't cut out all the times we're out of the frame since it would have been a lot more effort, sorry about that. The first leg/walk on is at 0:42, spook is at 1:30, and halt/dismount is at 4:47.


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

On Saturday, Rain decided it would be a good idea to run through the electric gate when I was bringing her in. I got her through it, turned us both around, and went to latch it when she bolted forward. Everyone at the barn just rolled their eyes and said it's a "naughty pony thing" but I think it's my fault for not backing her off more before I latched it. And taking for granted that April is very aware of electric fences and would never get that close. Pretty sure she got zapped while she was standing there not paying attention and _then _ran through it in a panic. I'm just glad she didn't get tangled or injured.

Then when we were tacking up, a new boarder rolled in. Rain watched the trailer pull up and then crossed paths with the huffy new horse as we headed to the indoor arena. All I could think was wow - today might just not be the day to get our second ride in. But Rain was rolling with the punches despite the fact that she was still a bit alert from her fence incident, so I got on anyway.

We rode for ten minutes just to work on reinforcing leg = forward. She started to pick up the walk with just leg and no verbal cues and seemed perfectly content with everything I was asking. I convinced her to move up into a lovely little jog, which she maintained on her own for a lap in both directions. Perfect! We ended the session there.


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

Today, I brought a new friend out to try out April and I got out Rain to ride at the same time. This was a first both for riding Rain in the outdoor (where she was much more distracted when we previously ground drove) as well as riding at the same time as another horse being exercised.

Yet again, I was impressed by her adaptability and composure - she didn't pay a single mind to April's zoomy antics and she wasn't distractible more than occasionally looking over the fence, which she was easy to redirect away from. We worked on more walk/trot/halt, but she also spent a lot of time just respectfully standing in the middle of the arena while I gave pointers to my friend. I was easily on her for over half an hour and she didn't have a single complaint.

You probably wouldn't have been able to tell she's only had a cumulative 15 minutes of ride time before today. Both my friend and the BO commented on how well-behaved she was. She's already turning out a lot nicer than I expected and I'm growing quite fond of her.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

That is excellent!


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## KharenasMom (6 mo ago)

This is all wonderful!
Keep up the good work you two!


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

Rain is doing great!! Did you mention what breed and how tall she is?


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

gottatrot said:


> Rain is doing great!! Did you mention what breed and how tall she is?


Thank you! She's grade, maybe some paint in her given her blue eye, muscular build, and that her sibling that came with her as a foal was pinto. She's 13.2hh.


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

I didn't get Rain out today while I was at the stable since I was crunched on time and only had enough to ride April. However, I ran into a long-time boarder who stopped me to say that recently, Rain has been politely approaching her in the pasture and asking for attention when she goes out to catch her own horse. Apparently, in the past 14 years, this is the first time _ever _that she's seen Rain do that - previously, she'd go out of her way to avoid people, making nasty faces along the way. The BO also stopped to say that similarly, for the first time in 14 years, Rain's been relaxed and happy coming inside to get her food each day instead of pinning her ears and rushing in and out.

I'm gratified to know that even in the future if I have to leave her behind when I move out and she just sits here for the rest of her life, the work we've done together has positively impacted her in some way.


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

Of course, I HAD to make the above post and jinx myself!

This past Tuesday, I got a bit careless and made a small mistake when I went out to catch Rain. I grabbed April before grabbing Rain. Up until now, I've always caught Rain first because Rain is easily offended and I figured walking up to her with April following behind me might be considered "offensive," and if I have to chase after Rain I don't want to have to drag April around with me, and I know April is always going to let me catch her.

She was indeed quite offended that I came up to her with April behind me. She let me come up to her, but then when I stopped to halter her, April walked up to my shoulder and that was just too much pressure for Rain and she took off. I dropped April's lead rope (April ground ties and I thought it would only be a minute or two - should have just unhooked her but she did in fact ground tie for this entire process), but the damage was done. She made catching into a game and would let me get within fifteen feet and then tear away and "hide" behind other horses. There were a couple times I got close enough to touch her muzzle but didn't want to destroy her respect by quickly grabbing and trapping her so just let her reach out to touch my hand and then took a few steps back. I was determined to catch her because she turned it into a game and it wasn't a game I was okay with her learning how to win, but it still needed to be a fair and respectful catch.

This went on for a good half hour until something quite comedic but very unexpected happened. She went to hide behind Bo, another boarder's QH/Percheron, and Bo was sick and tired of her games. I have never seen Bo move faster than a very leisurely jog, but this time he started tearing after Rain. This went on for another twenty minutes. After that, with her thoroughly worn out and drenched from head to toe in sweat, I was able to herd her to the lower pasture, then into the run-in, then into the stable, then into her stall where I was finally able to catch her - very slowly by inching up a lead rope tossed over her neck because she was acting semi-feral. Once the halter was on, she settled down.








We continued on as if it never happened. But when I got on and asked her to trot, she came up lame in the right hind. I got off and palpated up and down her legs - no obvious swelling or pain or tendon abnormalities, and she was certainly sound when she was tearing around the pasture, so I'm assuming she just has a muscle bruise or a strain either from getting kicked by the horses she was hiding behind or over-exerting herself, so I'll give her a week or two off and see how she is then.

Yesterday when I went out to catch April, I stopped by Rain first and she let me approach and pet her, so it doesn't seem like the above occurrence is going to be a regularity.


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## ShirtHotTeez (Sep 23, 2014)

Aprilswissmiss said:


> Of course, I HAD to make the above post and jinx myself!
> 
> This past Tuesday, I got a bit careless and made a small mistake when I went out to catch Rain. I grabbed April before grabbing Rain. Up until now, I've always caught Rain first because Rain is easily offended and I figured walking up to her with April following behind me might be considered "offensive," and if I have to chase after Rain I don't want to have to drag April around with me, and I know April is always going to let me catch her.
> 
> ...


Lol. Nothing like peer pressure!!


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

I admittedly neglected working with Rain for the past month and a half because of Thanksgiving travel and final exams. I'm glad to say that she hasn't had any lameness issues OR catching problems since her stunt. I went to say hi to her in the pasture each time I went out to catch April for the past month and a half and she never gave me trouble.

I hopped on her bareback for a few minutes of walking a few weeks ago, but otherwise, I haven't ridden her since the last time I posted. Today, I got back on and she picked up right where we left off. We worked on walk/trot figure eights and I barely had to correct her on anything. She chose a perfect trot pace on her own and maintained the same speed in both directions without any input from me. She makes training feel ridiculously easy!

Much to my pleasure, she has gotten very fuzzy 😍


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## Aprilswissmiss (May 12, 2019)

I spent the past couple weeks visiting family and wasn't able to work with Rain at all during that time. I'm finally back in town with some time to spare, so yesterday I got started with working on her again.

The times I took her out last month, I showed up late enough that she was already in her stall and didn't have to catch her. There were days in between that I went out to catch April and gave Rain a treat in the pasture but did not catch her. Yesterday, I discovered that she's caught onto me with the catching and treating game. She will gladly let me approach her and hand her a treat, and she will let me rub all on her and walk around her, but the second I lift the lead rope or halter, she bolts away. I attempted this a few times, each time very patiently working on rubbing the lead rope on her and putting my arms around her neck without the lead rope over and over before actually attempting to catch, but she is just too smart - she knows exactly when I'm about to actually wrap the lead rope around. So I decided I wasn't going to let her rehearse the behavior anymore and instead opened the barn door and herded her down into the barn then into her stall.

I saw this as an opportunity to take a few steps back and patch this gap that's surfaced in her training. Instead of moving on as normal, we worked on catching and haltering in the stall. She was initially reactive to the lead rope being wrapped around her neck, but she couldn't rehearse the escape behavior in an enclosed space. She got a treat each time she allowed me to throw the lead rope over and halter her and she quickly got over it. Not to say that she'll be the same way in the pasture next time, but hopefully it's a step in the right direction.

We also got the opportunity to re-establish some ground manners. After we worked on haltering for a while and went to step out of the stall, she did not wait for me to step out before bowling through. She got a strong correction and we went back to repeat stepping in and out of the stall politely, which she did very nicely after the first rude exit.

I figured that was enough brain work for one day and ended the training session there. I did put her on the cross ties to quickly trim her front feet, which she doesn't have an issue with and was a non-event, and then let her out. I wanted to avoid inadvertently rewarding her escape behavior, so I went through multiple rounds of faking letting her go and letting her hit the end of the lead rope as she attempted to move away (thankfully not bolting, just turning around to leave) and only letting her go once she stood politely for both lead rope and halter removal and was given permission.


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