About a year ago, I wanted to help Claire improve the quality of her circles/corners. She needed to learn to bring the inside hind leg further underneath her. I tried a number of ways to do that but they all fell short of the goal. So, I got professional help and took a long line lesson.  This was a real eye opener!

I had always viewed ground driving as a precursor to driving.  Therefore, I focused on the movements that the horse would experience when driving.  What I learned was that one can teach/ask the horse for far more complex movements that will help them build their bodies in the long lines.  When driving, the lateral moves aren’t applicable so we tend to not teach them when ground driving.  However, the lateral moves are a wonderful (and time proven) method of developing the horse.  Back to Claire’s issue:  she needed to do a better job with her hind leg and lateral movements helped her build the muscles necessary to improve the quality of her circles.  Did the long line work help?  Emphatically yes!

Now I am working with Chloe, a coming 4 year old Paint.  She has been in harness for over a year and this fall started under saddle.  The saddle work has increased her level of fitness (in a BIG way!) and when put back in harness I found some points that needed refining:  most notably she wasn’t as responsive to speed controls as I wanted.  Once Chloe was fit and understood how to use her body she wanted to USE it and USE IT FAST!  Her gas pedal was stuck to the floor — I could turn and I could stop but I couldn’t slow down!  We schooled in harness to refine her response to the half-halt.  There was improvement but there were too many variables (the inertia of the carriage was a big one).  Then I recalled the long line work with Claire and wondered if long line work would help Chloe understand speed control line instructions.

Back to the long lines we went and (sure enough!) the same issues showed up in the long lines.  Chloe seemed to be saying “I feel good!  I want to fly!”.  I needed to show her that that energy needed to be controlled and directed.  Of course, this is all about her responsiveness…or lack thereof…to the half-halt.  Once she was in the long lines and we focused on the half-halt her performance improved.   Next I added lateral work – simple yielding.  I found this had many benefits — 1) building her muscles; 2) giving her an outlet for her energy (it is hard work!); 3) teaching her to be responsive to the whip; 4) helping her better understand the outside line.

The following link shows Chloe schooling.  It shows the things we need to improve but also the things that she has learned.  Good:  she is very responsive to my cues to move laterally.  She is very willing to engage the hindquarters and move laterally.   When she controls her speed, she’s working really nicely.  To work on:  She is still rushing/pushing into my hands despite repeated half halts.  You can see me escalating the half halts to rate her speed and ask her to contain her energy.  That part will be a work in progress with her!  Of course, any video shows the things to improve and this one is no exception.  Chloe hasn’t yet converted the repetitions into habit.  But, she will in time.

Chloe schooling

Long line work shows up all the areas one needs to improve without the distraction of a vehicle or rider.  It improves the quality of the horse’s movement and the quality of the driver’s hands.  It is, however, a skill that requires development (which I think I will be working on for the rest of my life!)

We’re approaching the first hitching with our fellow, Scooter Pi.   Scooter came to our farm last spring and was used as a demo pony in our webinar course “First Steps to Harness”.  As a demo pony, he was a dismal failure.  When doing photos and video, it’s good to be able to show the pony going through the learning curve steps.  With Scooter, if we didn’t catch a new lesson the first time it was introduced, we often times lost the opportunity to capture it.  He has an exceptional ability to learn that isn’t typical, which made his photos and videos a bit misleading.  (“No, it really isn’t this easy with most horses!”)  Scooter has been so quick to learn that it was necessary to slow things down and let him mature physically before his first hitching.  Now, his body seems to have caught up with his mind and we’re preparing for that exciting first hitching.

This has caused me to very carefully review the training steps to make sure I haven’t skipped anything (which is so very easy to do with an exceptional equine).

Accepting of tack:  Does Scooter lead properly/reliably?  Does Scooter accept all the harness parts around him?  Does he mind if things flap around?  Do ropes bother him around his feet?  Does Scooter stand in cross ties?

Ground driving/long lining:  Does Scooter ALWAYS go forward on command?  Does Scooter understand the basic bit instructions?  Does Scooter have a reliable whoa?  Does Scooter turn when asked?  Does Scooter understand coming back to a walk from trot?  Trot from canter?  Does Scooter understand the purpose of the outside line and respect it?

Dragging stuff:  Does Scooter care about dragging things (especially noisy things)?  Does Scooter know how to push into his collar? Does Scooter stop and wait for assistance if he gets a leg over a trace?  Does he go where asked, even if he doesn’t want to?  Is Scooter able to handle the weight of the intended vehicle?  Has he proven this by dragging equal (or more) weight?  Does he come back to a walk from a trot when pulling weight?

Practice shafts:  Does Scooter accept the feeling of rigid shafts against his sides?  Does he accept them when asked to turn sharply?

The answer to all of these is “yes”.  The last remaining step (which I hope/expect him to go through without an issue):

Hitch to a vehicle while tied:  Note:  he will have a bridle on with lines attached, but will be in the cross ties as well.  Does Scooter stand quietly for hitching?  Does he stay calm with a driver in the vehicle?  Calm for driver getting in and out of the vehicle?  Does he show interest in moving off (not from fear)?

When Scooter comes through this last step then we’ll ask him to move off (with at least one header, preferably two).  Scooter’s journey will have been far shorter than my guideline in time, but not in steps.  The steps are needed in all cases — the variation is how long it takes the equine to understand the steps.  And, there are some that never do.  Not all horses/ponies are destined to become safe driving partners.

It’s always an exciting time when planning for the first hitching, but a little sad too.  It marks the end of this journey – a bit like graduating from kindergarten.  Scooter is about to go to first grade!

In the beginning of conditioning work, the heart rate bounces quite a bit – even when doing the same task. In working both Pippin and Chloe, I have very clearly seen the correlation between even heart rate (at a given task) and rhythm at that task. For example, at the trot, on even ground, the heart rate of a horse NOT trotting with good rhythm is quite uneven. It looks like the heart is mimicking the trot.  Or, is the trot mimicking the heart?

Good rhythm is born from many influences: good breeding, understanding of the job at hand, relaxation, and condition. The horse that is being taxed will have a more difficult time finding that smooth and even rhythm. The taxed horse will also lose their relaxation which compromise the even footfalls even more.

Since the heart rate monitor gives insight into the degree of taxation that is happening, the monitor also helps us understand whether or not the horse is capable of finding that elusive rhythm. Anxiety also shows on the monitor, which gives us further understanding of the horse’s state.

The use of monitoring may help in developing rhythm by allowing us to know when the conditions are optimal for the horse: calm, anxiety-free and not unduly taxed. When we are pushing the horse to develop condition, we can understand there will be some loss of rhythm while the conditioning develops.  Does conditioning the heart enhance rhythm as a side effect?  I think, “yes”.  I don’t believe it will create rhythm in the absence of other influences (good breeding, understanding of the job), but when those other things are in place, I am seeing a direct relationship between cardiovascular fitness and rhythm.

Today, Pippin showed me that he no longer needs a 5 minute break — 3 minutes will suffice.  His trot speed has come up nicely — even though speed is not a goal right now — it is a by product of asking him to put more ‘push’ into his work.  Our workout includes much more bending/circles now (we’re working with obstacles to keep it interesting).   The bending reinforces the push (he can’t really navigate the obstacles without energy from behind) and I can actually see the muscle developing.

I will be adjusting his training plan to call for 10 minute trot intervals, followed by 3 minute walk recovery.  I expect it will be a bit of a stretch for him the first time, but not so much as to put him at any risk.  I will adjust the plan on the fly if his heart rate doesn’t come down quickly enough during his recovery phase (although I doubt this will happen).  He continues to have every-other-day off so as to have ‘rebuild’ time.  We also feed Platinum Performance and that really seems to help support our fellows during conditioning.

I’m conditioning two young ponies:  Pippin (who has several years under harness, but is very much out of condition) and Chloe (who is both out of condition and inexperienced).  Both warrant very careful monitoring to insure they’re working hard enough to develop condition, but not so much as to cause injury and/or pain.  Both are happy and willing workers.  My goal is to make sure that I don’t push them too hard so as to compromise that delightful willingness in them.  Pain from over-exertion must be avoided!

I use interval training where a period of higher activity work is followed by a rest/walk period.  I discovered that both Pippin and Chloe were having trouble maintaining their trot for the entire interval I had defined.  This was shown by elevating heart rate that was moving out of the target zone I had set.  Returning to the walk brought the heart rate back down.  This told me that their bodies were being put under more stress than I wanted, at this level of conditioning.  (Certainly, as they are fitter, I will ask them to work in the higher heart rate zones.  Now, we need to be conservative.)

I adjusted both training plans to call for a shorter trot duration with a longer rest/walk period.  In doing so, I actually increased the number of intervals, but had each one shorter.  The result?  Both ponies were able to complete the training plan without elevating their heart rates outside the zone I had planned.  Without this technology, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to determine the ponies were feeling stress.  Neither pony showed any outward sign.  But, their hearts don’t lie.

From this point, I will be slowly adding time to the trot intervals.  The trick is to add time slowly enough to allow the pony to develop it’s strength, but not so slow as to not ask for any work.  No work = no development.  Too much work = pain and/or injury.  It’s a fine line.