Anyone out like me and still to long line? I was hoping to long line Cash this week-end but now it will be Tricka. Just watched this series and I now feel confident about trying. Great series! I will be using the method shown in Lesson 3 - long lining with the saddle as I don't own a roller. I was wondering how I was going to do it with just the dually and the saddle and how I was going to ancher the stirrups - thought of rubber bands around the girth - but now I know! Really enjoyed this whole series. I did feel that although Maya was very good and achieved excellent results with her young horse her movements seemed a bit too quick and abrupt. Anyone else share this view. I like to be smoother and slower than Maya was or have I got it wrong. Appreciate comments here.
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Wow! That was sooo much fun. Just came back from long lining Tricka - first time for both of us. Totally unchallenging as she is too trusting of me, too lazy, too desensitised etc to be phased by anything I do with her. The only hiccup was in the beginning as she couldn't understand that she was required to walk off but once she worked this out she was fine. Long lined in all gaits, did the turns numerous times, took her through the centre both ways and then finally backed her up. After the long lining I rode her in her dually for the first time and was delighted to find that she is so much more responsive to the dually than the relatively soft training bit I have been riding her with. As long lining was new to me I put it off for so long but after watching the above series I finally decided that I could have a go. Now I need to try it with Uggs - I know that will be challenging as Uggs is still easily spooked despite many desensitising lessons. If I am successful with Uggs then I may try humbly apologise to the lady who be-friended Cash and see if she will allow me back to finish off his re-training. I hate to leave anything I start unfinished and Cash still needs a lot of work. I have never walked away from a student or a horse before reaching some set goal and I certainly don't wish to walk away from Cash before I have him more relaxed and trained. I am fearful that his owner or someone else from the racing fraternity maybe now asked to help out I don't think that would turn out well for Cash. So it is humble pie time for me - hope I don't just get egg on my face again!
Well done Maggie - keep up the good work. Just remember when long lining Uggs that if he spooks or gets flustered to stay calm - nothing will happen if you are calm and relaxed and you can always drop a line if you need to and get him to stop then continue when ready - but as I say the calmness of the handler is the main thing. Good luck - look forward to hearing your progress. I started long lining about 30 years ago when I first started training horses and people back then thought I was a little strange but it is a fantastic training tool for horses and it did catch on. Cheers Jan
Hi Maggie,
I'd like to go into your comment on Maya, her being quick and abrupt.
At the beginning of the session, Maya tests the waters with this young horse and fine-tunes her bodylanguage to what this one needs. Later Courtney does say the horse is a little bit "rude", which of course Maya had sensed in the first place. I've seen Maya at work and I'm very impressed by how she has developed her skills of how much she needs to do and how little it takes. Working with untouched horses needs a higher level of bodylanguage, as long as you want to work at a pace like Monty sets for his starters. You don't need to go that fast, but then you'll need a lot of time building trust working around the horse. I think you were one of the students that suggested sitting in the field, reading a book and waiting for the horse to check you out. Nothing against that method!
Starting a young horse as Maya did in the video takes a high level of skill and saves a lot of time.
Trust is what we're all after, leadership comes in many forms.
Kind regards,
Miriam
Wonderful story Maggie; I always tell my clients the value of longlining but its amazing how hard it is for people to believe it really does make an enormous difference and has so many advantages in terms of the horses development, our utual safety etc.
Regarding Maya, I pretty much agree with Miriam though I can also fully understand why you saw it as abrupt. It does take a great deal of practice and confidence to trust going that fast - I don't have it, I am a lot slower in most situations and that is not always in the horses best interest as some are happier being moved through the process quite quickly. This is only to do with my confidence and need to focus on keeping my own heart rate down with a skittish young horse as they can make me nervous, so going too fast would be counterproductive for me and the horse. I have found it is better to trust who you are and go at the speed you are comfortable with and you do get there; as long as everything is kind and clear the horse will accommodate.
Thanks so much Griffo.girl for your comments re Uggs. I will try to do my best to remain calm with him - he is pretty trusting of me. Also thanks to Miriam and Vicci re your comments re Maya - I agree she did an amazing job with the young horse and now I understand why her movements appear quicker than Monty's.
No problems Maggie and best wishes. One little exercise with the long lining to help you stay calm. Smile - it is very hard to stress out when you have a smile on your face and you should be enjoying this work anyway - just a simple thing that may help. Cheers Jan