Kira's big adventure - Beacons Area Festival report

milliepops

milliepops

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People keep saying C&T is quiet these days so thought I'd do a little report. Even though there isn't much to report results-wise, I'm dead chuffed with how far Kira has come and we have photos for a change! :o

Quick intro for those who don't know Kira. I bought her from the field for £2 last summer, as a project while Millie was on sick leave. She was truly, truly horrible for quite a while, being nappy and generally the weirdest horse who would shut down completely at the smallest pressure. Gradually she began to untangle, and it became apparent that when she is on side, she's a very trainable bright little thing. As Millie put herself back on the injury couch this spring, I affiliated Kira and we had our first BD outings in July. She did 3 novices in September to qualify for petplans (my rider group excludes me from Prelim AFs or regionals).

Fast forward to Friday :) My week hadn't gone to plan so hadn't done any loading practice or indeed ridden the tests... Managed to bundle Kira onto the lorry somehow and set off on what turned into a 3 hour drive to Beacons Equestrian in Carmathenshire. The longest trip Kira and I have done together, so I had booked a stable for her overnight, as I knew she'd be pooped on arrival. Kira doesn't have a stable at home so I was a little worried that she might not settle in a box, but she was quite happy, had a drink and tucked into her hay immediately. Phew :)

The rain was beating down on the lorry roof all night and my airbed wasn't the most comfortable, but in the morning I woke to find that I must have scratched my left eye in the night and it had helpfully closed itself up:rolleyes:

I was undecided about whether to do the warm up class, or save Kira's petrol, especially given that I could only see out of one eye. It was still pitch black for the arena walk but I thought I'd use that as a barometer to decide how Kira was feeling. To say she was a bit cheerful would be an understatement, so that made the decision for me :eek:

She warmed up well and felt super swingy and responsive but was a bit tense in the first class - never mind, that's why we did it. Straight to a tack check and then into the Area Festival class.
She was such a pro. It was dreadful weather and the most spooky arena she's seen up to now, but she didn't bat an eye at any of it and stayed on my aids. I thought she did a super test considering it's only the 6th Novice test she'd done so really very green still.
The class was really quite strong, with people travelling from Dorset and Liverpool to try and qualify so it wasn't our day with 65%. But she got a nice plaque, and a ribbon for the warm up class, and then climbed straight back on the lorry to travel home.

Super happy with project cob. This was her when she arrived, having been turned away for several years and done nothing but eat!
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This was her yesterday (Thanks to HHOer DirectorFury who very kindly came to take pictures!)
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I think she's come a long way :) We need 5 more points to qualify for winter regionals so I think we'll have a go at that in the next month. Don't expect much as Novice Open can be so competitive, but it's all good experience. Meanwhile, Millie is up to 45 minutes walking and starts trot work next week. Should be in the school again by December :)
 
Brilliant result with so few outings beforehand, I'm in awe :D.
Lovely pictures she looks amazing and a great transformation.

x x
 
She looks lovely. Can I ask how did you get through the shutting down? I ride a horse that does same. He is better but still can't get him to relax altogether unless take all pressure off completely x
 
Ahhh thanks everyone, FW you're dead right and she nearly exhausted my patience too, pulled it back just in the nick of time! Mudmonkey I'll try and explain tomorrow after proper sleep (and hopefully with vision returned to both eyes ;) )
 
*both eyes working again* :lol:
Thanks again all, I am really pleased with how she's progressing and I'm quite excited for her future as she's a talented little thing who seems to enjoy learning. She's got some sideways moves coming along and I know she can do changes, so we could have some fun in a year or 2 ;) Shame she's only short - one day I will have a big elegant WB but for now, life keeps dealing me cobs!

mudmonkey17 said:
She looks lovely. Can I ask how did you get through the shutting down? I ride a horse that does same. He is better but still can't get him to relax altogether unless take all pressure off completely x
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Right, where to begin...? This may or may not be relevant but I kind of have to explain the whole thing. The problem first manifested itself once she had lost enough weight to be able to move rather than waddle so about 1 month into bringing back into work. She got a fright in the woods where we hack and what started as a nap, turned into bogging off in passage, and then when I stopped that, she just planted and switched off. There was no getting through to her. She went into herself completely, not in a stubborn way, more like she had suffered some kind of trauma and was protecting herself.

It was very slow progress. It felt totally alien to me because most people would say this was just disobedience and she should learn to go where she was told, but that idea had no legs at all (tried it:o) , she would just erupt with hysteria and become impossible to manage.

I had to accept the planting up to a point and try to keep her focus on forwards rather than gazing about. Then try to loosen one foot at a time. It was like all 4 were rooted to the spot, or we described it like she'd walked into a corridor and all of the doors leading off had slammed shut. You had to try all of the handles to find the door that would open. Sometimes that meant off-roading, actually heading off the track we were on into the undergrowth if that was the direction she would move in.

In terms of pressure, she was VERY gently asked to move one foot at at time and then rewarded with fuss and removing all pressure. The only thing she HAD to do was look where she was being asked to go. She was given a moment after each step to 'think'. I want to say 'process' but that sounds a bit stupid, but that's really what it was with her - she had to come to terms with what she was being asked to do. When her eye softened and she licked her lips then you knew you could ask again and might go 100 yards before the shutters came down again. Sometimes she would sigh and then you'd be OK until she tightened up and held her breath again. TBH the breathing was the best indicator of how she was coping.

At this point, the 'hack' was a 15 minute walk down a forestry track and back, so no distance at all, but some days it took 2 hours.

I did some long reining too following the same principles of facing the direction of travel and applying & removing pressure as she responded. Then we tried to start in the school. I had the same problem in there - but as there's a high fence I took all her tack off and free schooled her in there to un-stick her feet some days rather than going through the 'moving one foot at a time' rigmarole. Just changed the question completely to something she *could* answer. That was fun session as she 'joined up' which was quite sweet.

I don't know what made the breakthrough, other than learning when to apply pressure and when to let her just think. I guess that's it- she learnt how to think about a situation rather than freak out & close herself off from it. Only that pause with the removal of pressure allowed her to make that leap.
I also taught her to approach spooky things and touch them - she learnt that pretty quick just by making her put her nose to anything she picked out as a scary thing (upside down leaf etc) and that works brilliantly now and she will approach anything & touch it quite readily.

I was very very tentative in the school until about 3 months ago, trying not to over-face her and keep all of the sessions very sweet. She likes being asked a question and getting it right, so I had to set her up to succeed EVERY day. Now I can challenge her, demand a bit more, ride her like a normal horse ;) so much so that I have to remind myself not to take advantage of her willing nature as it would be really easy to overcook her while she is still green.

I still listen out for her deep breaths and I like it when she blows her nose, as it's her way of releasing tension. As she's progressed in her schooling I can help her get to that place by working on flexions etc to help relax her body, which in turn relaxes her mind.

That's a MEGA essay. But she was incredibly complex to start with, forced me to change the way I approach a problem - taught me a huge amount about what it means to have a horse *really* on side and wanting to work with you (I thought I had a pretty willing partner in Millie, but this has been something else entirely). If you happen to see anything to do with Tristan Tucker (he did a demo at The Dressage Convention this year) a lot of what we did is very similar to his way of relaxing a horse, it really chimed with me. I'm sure there are others but that's just an approach I've seen demonstrated recently.
 
What a nice story - it sounds like now she's opened up and gained her confidence, she's really on your side :) Do you know much about her background before you got her?

It all seems v promising doesn't it. What's next for her?
I reckon you should have my little horse for a while to play at DR with if me and OH ever get around to having a family! ;)
 
chestnut cob said:
What a nice story - it sounds like now she's opened up and gained her confidence, she's really on your side :) Do you know much about her background before you got her?

It all seems v promising doesn't it. What's next for her?
I reckon you should have my little horse for a while to play at DR with if me and OH ever get around to having a family! ;)
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Haha! I'm only interested in oddballs to add to my league of unlikely dressage ponies! :lol:

I kind of know her background though there are some gaps. I got her from a friend of a friend who, reading between the lines, was mis-sold her really, one of those sad stories. I think her previous owner was told that she had done a lot more than she had, and thought she'd be suitable for a novice. They moved to france and took her with them, but I gather she rather frightened them a bit, then the owner had an accident and I guess lost her nerve, so she didn't do a lot at all. Then they returned to the UK and she came back & was turned away. She was living on her own when I got her, and was really very unsettled mentally with no horsey company. She is absolutely besotted with Millie now.

She is so trainable on the flat and has an ability to sit so I think for now we will just work on building up her strength and see where we end up :) She likes jumping and I'm hoping to do a day or 2 hunting to broaden her horizons. But really I think she's a dressage cob, so will try and get qualified for winter regionals now and then move on to Elem when she is ready next year.


ester said:
Aw love the ginger/pink ;) welshie :D

Good to here Millie is still progressing too :)
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It's a very forgiving colour, mud wise, isn't it! It's a perfect match for our clay here.
Millie is a bit overshadowed at the moment as Kira is being so much fun! Will be nice to have her back in proper work though as she's been the trailblazer for me :D
 
I always think it's sad when they get passed around, usually of no fault of their own, just ending up with the wrong people or the wrong situation. It's all worked out well for her now though which is the main thing, and seems like she's really blossoming :D
 
Yes, she is. In fairness her previous owner probably did absolutely the best thing in the end. I said I'd take her on but I didn't know whether I'd keep her (meaning I'd possibly sell on when 'fixed' or else PTS). She said that was fine and she'd rather do that than send her to a dealer to be moved on quickly.

We nearly got to the PTS point, as I'd tried just about everything I could think of with no signs of improvement and i knew it wasn't fair to sell her on in that state and I didn't rate her chances of finding a non ridden home. Fortunately just as I was reaching the decision, she started to come right, and hasn't looked back since :)
 
I'll read your long post about training when I'm not supposed to be working, but just wanted to say what a lovely little horse Kira is and she has certainly landed on her feet with you - well done to you both and it looks like there is a great future ahead :)
 
Wow that was an essay thanks for taking the time to explain it. The pony I ride doesn't plant altogether but shrinks back into himself when stressed x
 
milliepops said:
Ahhh thanks everyone, FW you're dead right and she nearly exhausted my patience too, pulled it back just in the nick of time. )
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Going through similar with my own formally psychotic project D. Last week was very low but this week things are better. Hope I can get close to what you've achieved!
 
Ordinarily I'd respond with some kind of morale boosting comment like 'keep going, it'll be worth it'...

If that's helpful, then keep going, it'll all be worth it! :D

Being perfectly honest, setting a deadline for signs of improvement, after which if none was found she'd be packed off to the kennels, really helped me. And I meant it. The stress, worry and pressure of having this apparently unsolvable problem was really eating away at me. The desperation lifted when I set the deadline, i became a bit more detatched and that probably helped the training more than anything because I wasn't trying too hard any more, but just going at her pace.

;) keep going though... They are great when they turn the corner, aren't they :)
 
Wow, what a really great report well done and also a wonderful story, she looks like a super girl, the transformation in her is amazing and it is lovely to hear that she fell into just the right hands and now has the chance of a decent future. :-)
 
milliepops said:
Ordinarily I'd respond with some kind of morale boosting comment like 'keep going, it'll be worth it'...

If that's helpful, then keep going, it'll all be worth it! :D

Being perfectly honest, setting a deadline for signs of improvement, after which if none was found she'd be packed off to the kennels, really helped me. And I meant it. The stress, worry and pressure of having this apparently unsolvable problem was really eating away at me. The desperation lifted when I set the deadline, i became a bit more detatched and that probably helped the training more than anything because I wasn't trying too hard any more, but just going at her pace.

;) keep going though... They are great when they turn the corner, aren't they :)
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Mine was mental and unsound. I sorted the mental bit really easily then the soundness (which was weakness not lameness) improved too and now she is really strong and fit and the mental bit peeked out again! I was worried she would be too much horse for me once I had her properly fit but we have had a better week this week

Ultimately she will now suit someone (probably the sort of person who likes to go really really fast and jump really really high ha!). Which is probably not me. However I know I have changed her prospects so all is not lost.
 
absolutely :) well done. I saw some of your earlier threads about her and she's definitely landed on her feet too. Good job you've got supercob to keep your spirits up in the meantime!
 
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