One step or clock exercise

Ivonne wrote:one step, two step..three step...four! little by little ... piece by piece ...then put it all together and you get the whole enchilada!



Clock Exercises.... taking it down to the baby step level.....have you been practicing this lately, Moll?

appy_lover wrote:

So....is the clock exercise about moving the shoulders over? or is it about moving the whole body towards the number in question?

Splain me please, me and Noey need something to do in the barn aisle...

mtnmollie wrote:Clear as mud right?

It took me forever to get this.

But now, when Les Vogt tells me to move any body part, head, neck, shoulder, hip, rib- I can do it. Yippee, on me. LOL.

And I know where the feet step in a shoulder in, so I can do that too-
at my clinic even though I had never done it before. Yippee on me.

One step gets you all steps in any preformance or any dance.
One step leads to two.

Perfect one step and you perfect the whole horse.

Ivonne wrote:Hey Mollie , please feel free to post a copy of any training material here, too.

These are the notes I took from the first half of Saturday:

1) Go forward.
2) Hips moving over and stop at the walk. Alternate sides through this whole exercise. This is basically the very first steps to WESN.
3) GTTB Spot 1 ("the horse needs to hand you his nose") at a walk, with a release, then ask for the hips over and a stop. When you have the horse stop, you want a "stop with energy." How do you get more energy with the stop? You ask the horse to move out with energy right up till the stop, none of this ambling or shuffling to a stop.
4) Proper head elevation (his request was for tips of ears level with withers, but you determine where you want it), release, get the nose, release, get the hips over and stop.
5) Get backing up after the stop with the hips over. This happens almost automatically. Arashi was doing that before I was asking for it. *blink* Maybe he read my mind? And actually, you don't even need a "stop" to do this. John pointed out that Josh had actually shown him that a horse can be moving it's back feet backwards while it's front are still going forward - no stop, just a continuous shift from forward to backward.

It builds incrementally on itself. He says the horse already "knows" the next step before you ask it, because you've essentially already been working them on it.

6) Get the big neck muscle to relax. (Spot 3?) If the neck is tense, hold till the neck relaxes, release, get elevation, release, get the nose, release, gets hips over, a backup and a stop. *lol*
7) "Two spots together." Nose to the point of the shoulder. This one is where things get a little more interesting, because this is where *I* was having the most trouble with Arashi. JL really pulls the horse's head in to the shoulder, but made it clear you do not want that nose PAST the point of the shoulder. It will flex to the side, and that's ok. That is when the neck muscle will start changing from being big at the bottom and thin at the top, to the other way around. And honestly, that happens in a very short period of time. I was amazed by that. What is really cool is that by the time you've gotten this far, the "releases" are so small they're virtually invisible to an observer. The horse is beginning to understand the nose and elevation, and so doesn't require you to ask for them anymore. Also, ALL of this is done at a walk, so you have to be consistent about applying the go forward cue so the horse doesn't stop at first, thinking you're asking for that when you're really asking for elevation or relaxation, etc. It's so easy, really, but … requires coordination and focus and practice – oh, and patience. I was surprised at how far Arashi got in only about an hour with me bumbling all over the place! This is where you start to have control over the shoulder, and move to the clockwork part.
Once you have the horse giving to "two spots together" as he called it, the next step is to start asking for one step to 1 o'clock. Bring the two spots together, then release as soon as you get even a thought in that direction, and do a hips over and stop.
9) After you have that, you do the 3 o'clock.
10) Now 5 o'clock.
11) Here comes the real fun. Now you ask for the horse to move TOWARD you with the rein. Ask for 11 o'clock.
12) Now 9 o'clock.
13) Now 7 o'clock.
At this point, you can literally start "dancing" with your horse. You have control over the hips, nose, and shoulder, and you have WESN going, plus clockwork.

You also have the reverse arc at this point. JL calls that a situation where you're just asking for that shoulder to move away from you faster than the back end is moving.

If the horse throws his head all over, jumps around, kicks, whatever, just ignore it as long as you aren't in danger. If you stay in the "safe zone" at the shoulder, you should be just fine. He said that all that behavior is completely natural until the horse figures out what you want. Also the horse coming into you with the shoulder is completely normal at first, until you get control of the shoulder, and again, just to ignore it and move out of the way.
__________________
Marian Figley
Barefoot Chicken!
The Naked Hoof

appy_lover wrote:We are walking along, I am walking at her left shoulder. When I am ready, I envision that I am walking onto the face of a giant clock. The clock has lines drawn from the center of the clock to each number. I am walking straight ahead on the line which connects 6 to 12 through the center. I am always facing 12 o clock. I pick up the left rein and ask for her right front foot to take one step on the line that runs to one oclock. As soon as that foot takes one step towards one o clock I release and continue walking towards 12 oclock. After a few steps I ask for that foot to step on two oclock, release, walk forward. Then 3 oclock, release, walk forward. Now I switch sides. I am walking by her right shoulder. Now I am asking her LEFT front foot to step on 11....then 10....then 9. Yay! She aces this part
Next I switch sides again, I am now on her left side again. Now comes the fun stuff -- TOWARDS ME. I pick up the rein and ask for her LF to step on 11 oclock, release, walk forward, now 10 oclock, release, walk forward, now 9 oclock, release, walk forward. Switch sides, I am on her right side. I ask for 1 oclock, release, walk forward, 2 oclock, release, walk forward, 3 oclock, release, walk forward.

We havent tackled the bottom of the clock yet. We need more work on leg yield towards. Since I taught her this as as extension of hips in I cant get the shoulder to step in without first getting the hip to step in. But theres time for that in our future

yeah AL! You are so much way smarter than me.

Cool bananna.

To give to the bit means the horse is responsive to the rein cues.

That is, when you take the slack out of the rein, the horse responds by moving a particular body part, one that you want him to move.

You then refine the cue so that you only begin to take the slack out, barely touch the rein and the horse responds immediately without pulling.

It feels like the horse weighs nothing. It gives "soft" and his body complies, and is also soft.

So, giving to the bit, is just another way of saying, your horse responds immediately without hesitation or resistance to the "tension" on the rein--slight tension, as in the slack is taken out, or refined so it's just before you take out all the slack....that is as you are taking out the slack, the horse drops his head, or he moves a hip, a shoulder, etc...without "fighting" or resisting. This is what giving to the bit is all about.

A horse gives (moves a body part) when he feels pressure from the bit.

I think I am just beginning to "get it."

I pick up the rein, (which is slack or has float in it) and get a response.
But we teach in steps, and dont start with the goal.