free schooling principlas and tips (basic)

Dummer&Drummer

Dummer&Drummer

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Sep 30, 2004
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im sure maybe youve had this thread a 100 times, but i would like to start doing this for 15 mins early morning before work with drummer, can anyone give some basic tips/principles of what to do and what not to do and small aims (novice, never lunged before, ri is going to teach me to long rein on a circle soon or peossa)

thanks guys
 
pessoa? can you long rein in a pessoa?
i don't like the contraptions and wouldn't put one near mine but if your RI likes them, look into the bloomin things before you let her near Drummer with one so that you know what's going on.
 
D&D

Loose schooling is easiest in a round pen or smaller arena, or have a helper if you have a normal arena and can not cut it down.

I "cut down" our school on Sunday - it was raining on and off and the horses were too wet to ride, so we played instead ;)

I used some barrells and some barrier tape I have to cut off the gate end of the school (in an arc so no corners) and then blocked the two fenced corners as well.

Fi has worked in a round pen before, but not for a while, so it was revision for her. But I am not sure if Rosie has ever done this.

If I loose school Fi in the whole arena, she tends to go a bit crazy - motor-biking at full pelt and screaming to a halt in corners :rolleyes: In my "round pen" she didn't do this.

Imagine the horse's personal space as a big lozenge-shaped bubble around them. To send them out, bring them in, turn them, change speed or gait - you are always looking to "push" or "pull" a bit of that personal space bubble.

(or think of it like lunging but someone took the line away ;)

With Fi, she was recently diagnosed with DJD in her near hock so I am keen to see her moving freely, using her back end as well as she can, but nothing too drastic in terms of stops or turns.

With Rosie, I actually started her on a line first - so she had the idea of what I wanted. Took the line off and sent her out again. Because it was new to her, I asked her back in quite often, so that she would build confidence about being "out there" each time.

I ask for inwards turns to change direction AND outwards turns. I ask for changes in pace.
 
teabiscuit, the long reining and pessoa are 2 seperate things, one ri long reins (she giving me lessons to long rein) and i just mentioned the pessoa another ri uses and she is going to have a look and see what she thinks as she does not know much about it and is a fan of long reining, the pessoa seems a little controversal :) ill probably learn to long rein

so cvb what do i do, i have one large all weather to play in, it has a round track on the sand he should be accustomed to use :rolleyes: :) do i just flick the lunge whip and guide him round as best i can

i played this morning trott to canter was ok, canter to trott took longer and walk was........walk 5 strides and stop by gate or ver straight back into canter if encouraged on lol :D although the first minute of free schooling he put himself on a 20m circle then i think clicked there was no lunge line holding him to this ha ha
 
I think that the pessoa (like other 'gadgets') has it's uses but to be honest I don't think Drummer really needs it. I think you should try the long reining first and I think you may be suprised with the improvements with just that. Then maybe look into the pessoa once you've mastered long reining.
Also when you long rein, do it in a straight line to, so you are behind him. Just do it in walk and he should really stretch out and put his head down, brilliant for getting all those back muscles loosened up.
 
i dont think other ri will like the pessa, not sure, she is a long reining fan. drummers long reining wont be done from behind though it will be done in walk trott and canter on a circle using the long rein to help his hocks thus aiding the outline and balance of his canter with my help when i get on board, it helps me to help him as my legs and seat are not equipped quite yet for something like this

anyway freeschooling guys....................... i off now so ill just have to flick my whip in the morning, till you feed me what and what not to do tommorow :) x
 
Will your RI not like the pessoa??

Is it up to her??

You use what you want to use, if you want to try the pessoa then borrow one and see how you get on.
 
Will your RI not like the pessoa??

Is it up to her??

its my flat work ri, very horse kind, no if she does not like it, i will stick to long reining on the circle. one ri loves it, not sure about the other ri yet, im not in a rush to make any decisions ill gather all of the info first and try dabbling in long reining and go from there
 
D&D I'd like to know HOW as well as I've got to start loose schooling my mare to get her jumping.

If I leave her loose in the school which I do before lunging when setting up poles, she just stands there. If I produce the lunge whip she goes mental. So what's the trick?
 
ok, how to loose school. take off all tack (except boots of course)so nothing to get caught. put horse in school, put yourself and your lunge whip in school and ask them to move!

the key to loose schooling is all in your body language, you have to be in the right position to keep moving them forwards - by body language I can get Ciara to change the rein and all sorts. Just don't ask me how to explain it! trial and error is best. Really work on voice commands to change pace. Pole work and jumping is good when loose too to help build their self esteem and confidence.
 
Dummer&Drummer said:
so cvb what do i do, i have one large all weather to play in, it has a round track on the sand he should be accustomed to use :rolleyes: :) do i just flick the lunge whip and guide him round as best i can

i played this morning trott to canter was ok, canter to trott took longer and walk was........walk 5 strides and stop by gate or ver straight back into canter if encouraged on lol :D although the first minute of free schooling he put himself on a 20m circle then i think clicked there was no lunge line holding him to this ha ha
Click to expand...

D&D

You said in another post that he was quite happy to follow you about - that may be something you can build on for a start - but you will find that in a whole arena like that, you may "lose" him to distractions.

have a look at whether it is possible to cut it down at all - I cut our 40x20 in half using 3 barrels and some hazard tape (from screwfix - not expensive) and added in two Bloks under the longer stretches just for the visual effect ;)

It didn't take long to set up, and in terms of taking down, rolling the tape up is the worst bit !:rolleyes: (especially if you leave it to blow in the wind and get twisted - DOH !)

Anyway - to your body language question:

I do natural horsemanship as well - so you can use ideas from there to help (as they know it online). If not, it is basic body language you are using.

For example:

to ask for less speed and energy: person gives horse a bit more distance, breathes out, lowers eyes, stands relaxed

to ask for *more* speed and energy: person stands upright and "energised" lifts eyes, breathes in and actively, and then drives the horse

what do I mean by "drive" ? well remember that "lozenge" shape I described before ? To push a bubble around a circle, you would push from behind the middle of the bubble/lozenge. This would be driving from behind.

To push the bubble straight out - you would push its middle.

To slow or halt it, you would get ahead of the middle. (Remember the horse is moving forwards so you need to cut across ahead - if you just aim straight for the front of the horse, by the time you get there the horse has moved forward and now you are driving the back end ! which is the reverse of what you meant - so experiment and find out how far ahead you need to aim)

Actually you will know when you get it right by what the horse does in response ;)

To turn a horse outwards in a change of direction I would therefore block their movement ahead (so they stop), block any movement inwards, and "drive" them away from me.

To ask a horse in, I would create space near me for them to come in by walking backwards away from them. Note that again you have to take into account the forward movement so you don't walk straight back - or that would act as a block to the forward movement - walk back in a slight arc so you continue to back away but don't completely block the forward movement.

If I want a halt I woudl relax and come to a halt as they turned.

(You can also use the parelli HQ disengage to ask them in)

So for a turn inwards to change direction I would ask them in, and as they come in I would then add some "push" to move them away from me again but in the other direction.

You will find that as you do this, they will start to keep you in their inner eye line and one ear will probably latch on to you (inner one).

Klaus Hempflings book is great for the body language bit of all this.

But you will also find the long-reining helps. For example, if he *will* walk around with, then use your own body language but exaggerated to ask for halt, or trot, or turn.

For example, to halt I need to shift my weight from forward movement back into halt and I need to plant one foot. So if I make that backwards shift of weight and the foot plant really obvious, the horse will notice and will probably halt too. (may not happen first time, as they may wait to se what it means first - and maybe second - time, before matching you).

In the same way, as they walk with you, make your steps faster and more energetic and "fade" into a trot - see if they mirror you by speeding up. Then slow it all down to walk.

In a big arena, the lunge whip is simply a way to extend your body language and make it more obvious. If you just flick it - how does he know what it means ? It normally just means "more" - but more WHAT ? If you can be more precise and use it for driving the bubble from behind, or stopping it (by putting it ahead), then you'll find it all gets more refined.
 
thanks cvb that gives me a few ideas - sounds tiring, sounds as if drummer may actually free school me :eek:

i cant unfortunately make the school smaller or rounder

he will follow me around the whole school in walk in any direction or any turns (i try and fool him and turn off suddenly or walk patterns and he follows) - he will trott round the arena with me but i cant do this too much re leg and certainly i cant not canter lol

ive tried this once for 10 mins and he will trott and go into canter, but the canter maybe (if i not sounding silly) appears to be rather playful and it takes a while to go back to trott but is more likely to stop in the corner as opposed to walking on or trotting on lol :) but i kinda picked up that whilst he was stood in the corner his body language was like that of a child wishing to play again, or come and find me - it was just the way he stood looking at me, like he wanted me to walk closer and then he'd canter off - is this good :eek: or possible i picked this up from him - or have i gone insane :)

for the first minute of our first free schooling session, he saw the lunge whip and put himself on a lunging circle :) it took him about a minute to work out i had not attached a lunge line and that nice circle he trotted disappeared - i thought this was rather sweet

he did seem to be encouraging me to play with him though and often returned to the middle and wanted to follow me????

any advice re this
 
D&D

its not silly OR insane - horses seem to relish the opportunity to express themselves a bit more, and those that love loose schooling seem to find it more of a game than work (even if they ARE working).

Long reining requires about the same amount of effort from you - or more.

If walking with him is an issue, then go for you being central, and him being around you. With a rectangular school the "centre" is actually an area along the centre line of the school or you *will* lose him one end or t'other :rolleyes:

It seems that being with you is a comfort zone for him. This is good, and you can use it to establish a cue for him to come in when you want. It doesn't really matter what it is - a voice cue or a hand signal or both - and the more logical you make it ("Come in" or a beckon) the easier and more natural it will be for you both.

SO for now, if he wants to come in, let him - preferable with you cue - give him a rub and then send him back out (as opposed to stopping him from coming in at all).

If he gets into a corner, you want to make him *want* to come out of it, either by making "there" uncomfortable" (by putting pressure on him) or by making "here" be more attractive.

With the playful glint in his eye you spotted - he is probably checking out whether he is *allowed* to play. For example, with Fi I awlays let her have 5 mins at the beginning to mooch and roll, and THEN it was "Listen to me" time. (But she still got to be quite playful - but not to the point she wasn't listening to me).

They do like paying "catch" but you have to be careful with this - Fi will try and "play" this game sometimes when I go to catch her in the field :rolleyes: Hence why the "come here now" cue is a useful one to have in place !

(be careful what they train YOU to do ;) )
 
this may be fun then yes??? :) even just playing and maybe the key is to take notice of a few things like i did the other day and come back to you guys and ill be a master in not time

no walking with him is not a problem, i just cant canter with him lol

the part where he stood in the corner and i sensed he wanted to play was like, he was looking at me out of the corner of his eye but he did not want me to see he was looking - and his posture told me he was ready to play and he was waiting ready- i'd anticipate that if id walked closer and flicked the whip he would have tossed his head in delight and cantered off lifting his head up and down almost inviting me and saying watch me

are you sure im not mad :rolleyes: :)

the canters i did let him have were rather playful, not over silly, not one id certainly like to sit on lol :D

i had a problem sending him away once he'd come into me though, he was stood rather close and was following, a bit close to me to have been able to flick the whip - i ended up running away and then flicking :rolleyes: :)
 
D&D

I did wonder whether the "long reining in a circle" was down to the issues you have been mentioning but not detailing ?

If you are mad, so am I - I will "pretend" to jump at Fi, and she will leap in "shock". Or she will pretend to come close to me (but you can tell its not serious).
 
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