Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The One Rein Stop

Piper's training is progressing nicely.  I'm currently reading through a Clinton Anderson book on starting young horses.  A lot of it I have already done with Piper, but it is good to go back through and pick up on points I might have missed and to do some refresher work.  I use training videos as well, but I really like having a book I can stop and re-read something and earmark the page and go back to it later.

One of the things I've been working on lately is The One Rein Stop.  Basically, an "emergency brake".  It simply involves pulling the horse's head around to the side using one rein, with the idea being that if their head is turned to the side they cannot continue forward motion.  Piper flexes nicely to both sides, so this has been relatively easy for her to learn.  GOOD THING.  

Sunday as I was riding her in the round pen we had our first little "rodeo" moment.  We were riding around nicely when all of a sudden she decided that really wasn't what she wanted to be doing anymore.  She gave me 2-3 good bucks until I was able to get my hand down the left rein and pull her head around.  It worked!  She stopped her silliness and stood perfectly still.  We had a little "chat" for a minute, then continued on with no problems.  We were able to end the lesson on a good note. 

And, I didn't have to eat any dirt.  Bonus!

I still see her as this little baby I brought home almost 2 years ago:
Uh, yeah... not so little anymore! 
Not so little, and too big for her britches!  We'll continue working on that...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like your blog - a lot!

Agneta, Sweden

Rachel said...

Yay for porgress!
I love c\Clinton Anderson, he's who my husband and I follow on our colt traing, or working with horses period. Though, we'll listen and learn from anyone, I just enjoy learning more!
We train horses for people as well as ranch. I love working with young horses, bringing out their personality, and seeing how great they are going to be! :)
Thanks for sharing! :)

d. moll, l.ac. said...

LOL she does look like she has a few ideas of her own. What a great face!

Christina said...

Piper is a smart one. I am glad you didnt go sailing off.

Julie Harward said...

She really is beautiful! I love that bit of training too..plus ingraining the "wowa" into them before you even get on their back...good luck with her. Come say hi :D

jane augenstein said...

I too love the way Clinton teaches, so easy to understand. I use him, Dennis Reis and Parelli....me and Gilly kind of do our own thing. Gilly knows the one rein stop too but I remember the first time in the round pen he bucked. I cracked his butt with the crop; did it so fast it surprised even me and it sure surprised him! He didn't do it again! LOL
Piper sure is one beautiful girl. Gilly would sure be sweet on her! He has an eye for the ladies!!! :-D Maybe you should change her name to Sassy Britches! LOL

Paint Girl said...

Piper is so pretty! She is looking really good. Glad the training is going so well! I can't wait to break Chance, even though that won't happen for more then a year, but I keep going over stuff in my head for when the time comes!

Annette Tait said...

maybe 'rodeo' to Piper equals 'fun' for us??
sounds like interesting reins work! but it makes good sense, you are a good teacher Bridget!

Gaina said...

Aww, she's a stunner! :). Do you have any time for the Pirelli methods? I'm sure they talked about the 'one rein stop' in a program I watched a while ago.

Anonymous said...

Your long-eared little darlings are quite stunning & the pictures on them too.

Thank you for your nice comment on my blog, it made me very happy!

Welcome back to Sweden!

Agneta

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Yeh, the one rein stop has saved my butt, too. Mine was from an out of control bolt, but the one rein stop was immediate. whew!

Too bad it doesn't work as well for an 8 foot sideways teleportation.

I'm glad you didn't get bucked off and the lesson ended on a positive note. Keep up the good work with your sassy girl :-)


~Lisa