Comfort Zone Training – Page 5

Comfort Zone Training – part 5

Published on November 20, 2016

For our fifth session of CZT we went back to the first area, not because of worry but because it was easier to do with the time we had to work on that day. Everything was smoother from liberty ground work to ridden, Solly was more willing and able and we had some nice impulsion.

SO, things have moved nicely in the right direction and I hope to extend the range of our Comfort Zone outwards to include the next field soon but as we’ve sort of missed Autumn and gone straight into Winter I’ll have to take that into consideration. If the weather deteriorates more then I will be doing mostly ground work in different places to extend our CZ, if the weather becomes milder then the ridden work can continue nicely.

One other thing…I just remembered WHY Solly is a big worried about certain parts of the field!! A week or so ago we came to the field and the boys were all sweated up, we wondered what had caused this, maybe shooting nearby or dogs in field next to ours? Then I remember going to check our water trough and the pipe to it had come off and water was spraying about like a garden sprinkler. I think this happened when Solly was drinking from it and THIS has caused some worry issues in the lower part of the field. I am going to do some ground work training near and then around this obstacle as it may be that he’s not found any relaxation or curiosity about the water sprinkler…just worry and I need to help him sort it out so that it’s not constantly on his mind in that part of the field…SO, approach/retreat to help overcome an issue is imperative 😉

Shelley – HorseSavvy

Comfort Zone Training – part 4

Published on November 15, 2016

SO, what has been happening on session 4 with some consistent CZT?

Well, we took our techniques and relaxation to another part of the field and repeated everything, working towards widening our CZ to another area still in the main field. This day we not only tested our relationship in an area we’d not been working in for a while but also with barefoot ‘boots’ on, which isn’t normal, AND just before dinnertime so it was getting to be twighlight-ish…something we rarely do SO….we’ve pushed our CZ in three new ways from the beginning of the week!

This is huge progress, it just felt right to do it and the circumstances allowed for it as I started off trimming his feet in our Agility arena area rather than where we’ve been feeding them recently SO this was a change of area already and I used this opportunity to start here rather than go back to where we’d been working beforehand.

We did quite a lot of ground work to start with and were together from the offset. Checked his relaxation by circling around the field using transitions and changes of direction (COD) all the time, this helps me see if he’s still with me and checking in to my requests or ignoring them because he’s switched off or focused on something else. Popped him over a few jumps to check willingness is there and then some fig 8’s around some thistles which checks flexibility on both sides. All went well. To check true impulsion I asked him to do halt to trot and halt to canter transitions going onto some circles and he did them really well SO I could see he was listening, relaxed, willing, flexible from front to back and on left and right sides……a good time to praise well, treat for effort and saddle up.

The riding was very good, our impulsion was much better and our connection through breathing and focus was much better on my part too. What I compromised on was not riding away from our ‘base’ too far, so we did lots of transitions, turns and fig 8’s in a smaller area than normal but that was a good compromise as it felt the right thing to do as Solly has not worn his barefoot ‘boots’ for years and it only takes one thing to be different sometimes with him.

So…all going well so far with our CZT. I will do a couple more days in this ‘new’ area of the field, maybe cover the whole base area too and then it’ll be time to incorporate the field gate and outside of the gate into the next field on our next 7 day session.

Shelley – HorseSavvy

Comfort Zone Training – parts 2 & 3

Published on November 12, 2016

The last couple of weeks CZT has been positive and progressive even though the sessions haven’t always been the same amount of time. Our connection has been getting better, Solly’s impulsion has been getting better, communication and willingness have been going really well and we’ve managed to move from one small area in and around a round pen to over half the field all by doing the same techniques with the same feeling and with the same requests of timing, energy and a balance between fast/slow, left/right, energy/stops and my ideas/Sol’s ideas. Slowly but surely we’ve become more harmonious together and from working regularly, albeit not for long, Solly’s impulsion is improving due to him getting mentally, emotionally and physically fitter and ready to move. Sessions 2 and 3 were roughly the same but with session 3 we had a bit more time and extended the area we were working in a bit more….keeping it positive and progressive.

Here is our second ground session work video….

And our second riding session…..

What I also realised is that it depends on your horse as to how much time you put in. If quite a worried horse lots of small good sessions work well, do a few sessions per week and allow a couple of days off to think about things. Slightly less worried horses can have fewer but maybe longer sessions with a few days to think about things. The ‘thinking’ days are a great way for your horse to think things over and often they come back to a new session with more understanding, confidence and curiosity. Those ‘thinking’ days also help you to figure out where to go next with your CZT, to retreat a bit, to progress a bit to go over what you’ve done or to go over what you’ve done quickly and progress a bit…the last one is where I try to be each time 😉

Shelley – HorseSavvy