Gia - session 134 - more of the same, bigger X, reader's question #2!
I received another reader question last week, so I started off today's ride with a couple of videos to help answer the question.
Meagan asked: "I see in your videos that you are using/holding a whip when you ride. I thought green horses are more sensitive therefore the whip would be the last thing you wanted to use. Clearly that is not the case here. What do you use it for with Gia?"
My first response to this question is one that my students hear often - "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."
For me, a whip is just a tool, or an extension of my leg, that I like to have on hand for whenever it is needed. Most of the time, with Gia, I don't use the whip at all, or I use it very lightly, but I always carry it, so that I am always guaranteed to get what I ask for. If I ask Gia to respond to my leg, and I don't get a reaction at all or I don't get a reaction quickly enough, then I add a tap of the whip. How hard I tap with the whip depends on how well, or poorly, Gia responds.
In the first video I took today, I just wanted to demonstrate an exaggerated use of the whip, so that the viewer could see how I use it. The second video is more a real life situation where I am working with Gia on yielding into and out of a circle at the walk, and I'm only using the whip when she doesn't respond to my leg asking her to yield. I didn't have to use the whip too often, and when I did, it was pretty light. I also keep my tapping of the whip very rhythmical to match her step.
Most of our ride goes very much like the second video. However, there are times when I have to resort to a stronger use of the whip, like today when I asked for the trot, and she either wasn't paying attention, or wasn't sure what I wanted, or just didn't feel like it. I did have to use more of a pop than a tap to get what I asked for. However, I ALWAYS start with a light leg aid, followed by a stronger aid, followed by the whip, if necessary. And if I have to use the whip for one request, I ALWAYS go back and try to get the next request with only the light leg aid again. This is how you can educate the horse that a whip is nothing to be afraid of, but that it will be applied if the horse does not comply to the rider's request.
When I first started riding Gia, I did not even carry it, just because I didn't know how she would react. When I started needing a little more of a reaction to my leg though, I started by very lightly and carefully applying the whip, ONLY after first asking for what I wanted with my leg. She has never been very reactive to a whip, but I have worked with other horses that required an even lighter, more careful approach to this tool.
Personally, I also prefer using a whip over using spurs, with a young horse. If the young horse overreacts to something, I don't want to accidentally spur them, and a whip is much easier to control, or even drop, in a bad situation. I have the same opinion for more beginner and intermediate riders. In fact, the only horse I currently wear spurs on is my very seasoned event horse Butch.
Hopefully, that helps to answer Meagan's question, along with anyone else who was wondering the same thing!
Meanwhile, the rest of our ride went pretty much like all the others.
We did work over trot poles to an X again today. She was a little fidgety at first, mostly because she was distracted by the small ponies running around like fools. However, it did not take too much to get her attention. Since I have always used small circles to help her focus on me, I just pulled that tool out of my toolbox, and within in one or two revolutions, I had her attention back on me, and we proceeded with the jumping work. I was also able to do a little shoulder-in at the trot to help get her attention on me whenever we were near the small pony paddock. This "tool" works very much like a small circle, but without actually having to turn around. I was actually surprised by how well Gia responded to it!
I did have to make my X quite a bit bigger today. After she had been over it a few times, and was feeling confident, all she would do is trot it. We had to raise it to almost double the center height (just a few holes at a time though), before we got it to a height that was respectable enough for her to put the jumping effort in. I love that the jumping seems so effortless and fun to her!
Meagan asked: "I see in your videos that you are using/holding a whip when you ride. I thought green horses are more sensitive therefore the whip would be the last thing you wanted to use. Clearly that is not the case here. What do you use it for with Gia?"
My first response to this question is one that my students hear often - "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."
For me, a whip is just a tool, or an extension of my leg, that I like to have on hand for whenever it is needed. Most of the time, with Gia, I don't use the whip at all, or I use it very lightly, but I always carry it, so that I am always guaranteed to get what I ask for. If I ask Gia to respond to my leg, and I don't get a reaction at all or I don't get a reaction quickly enough, then I add a tap of the whip. How hard I tap with the whip depends on how well, or poorly, Gia responds.
In the first video I took today, I just wanted to demonstrate an exaggerated use of the whip, so that the viewer could see how I use it. The second video is more a real life situation where I am working with Gia on yielding into and out of a circle at the walk, and I'm only using the whip when she doesn't respond to my leg asking her to yield. I didn't have to use the whip too often, and when I did, it was pretty light. I also keep my tapping of the whip very rhythmical to match her step.
Most of our ride goes very much like the second video. However, there are times when I have to resort to a stronger use of the whip, like today when I asked for the trot, and she either wasn't paying attention, or wasn't sure what I wanted, or just didn't feel like it. I did have to use more of a pop than a tap to get what I asked for. However, I ALWAYS start with a light leg aid, followed by a stronger aid, followed by the whip, if necessary. And if I have to use the whip for one request, I ALWAYS go back and try to get the next request with only the light leg aid again. This is how you can educate the horse that a whip is nothing to be afraid of, but that it will be applied if the horse does not comply to the rider's request.
When I first started riding Gia, I did not even carry it, just because I didn't know how she would react. When I started needing a little more of a reaction to my leg though, I started by very lightly and carefully applying the whip, ONLY after first asking for what I wanted with my leg. She has never been very reactive to a whip, but I have worked with other horses that required an even lighter, more careful approach to this tool.
Personally, I also prefer using a whip over using spurs, with a young horse. If the young horse overreacts to something, I don't want to accidentally spur them, and a whip is much easier to control, or even drop, in a bad situation. I have the same opinion for more beginner and intermediate riders. In fact, the only horse I currently wear spurs on is my very seasoned event horse Butch.
Hopefully, that helps to answer Meagan's question, along with anyone else who was wondering the same thing!
Meanwhile, the rest of our ride went pretty much like all the others.
We did work over trot poles to an X again today. She was a little fidgety at first, mostly because she was distracted by the small ponies running around like fools. However, it did not take too much to get her attention. Since I have always used small circles to help her focus on me, I just pulled that tool out of my toolbox, and within in one or two revolutions, I had her attention back on me, and we proceeded with the jumping work. I was also able to do a little shoulder-in at the trot to help get her attention on me whenever we were near the small pony paddock. This "tool" works very much like a small circle, but without actually having to turn around. I was actually surprised by how well Gia responded to it!
I did have to make my X quite a bit bigger today. After she had been over it a few times, and was feeling confident, all she would do is trot it. We had to raise it to almost double the center height (just a few holes at a time though), before we got it to a height that was respectable enough for her to put the jumping effort in. I love that the jumping seems so effortless and fun to her!
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