Of Lost Birdie's and BB's Short Serpentine.

Blue Flame · Of Lost Birdie's and BB's Short Serpentine.

The following mentions the "birdie" a concept by Dr. Deb. Bennett useful for dealing with a horse's mind . . . . . .

Saturday's ride saw Blue Flame lose his birdie - it just up and went straight back to the herd.

As he became more frantic, you could see him starting to hollow out and lose co-ordination, even to the point of tripping down onto his knees - luckily the ground was very soft.

Anyway, after 2 dismounts (intentional) necessitating one rein stops and some Parelli type half circles using a tree, he would get safe enouigh on the ground but not safe enough for a rider. He'd come back enough to stand for re-mounting but as soon as the rider was up - his birdie just up and left again straight back to the herd.

We decided to take him back to the pasture adjacent to his herd and work with him there. Unfortunately, there was a narrow bridge to cross to get back and he was in no condition to cross it calmly.

So, we went straight to "exercising the demons" with BB's short serpentines. After about 5 minutes of this he got his birdie back enough to cross the bridge without running through his rider.

Once across, we continued with the short serpentines for about another 4-500m until he was turning off weight/seat/leg aids again and had released most of the braces in body and mind - then stopped for 5 minutes - during which time his eye finally softened.

Finished up with 1 large trot circle left - stop - 1 large trot circle right - stop - 1 canter circle left - stop - 1 canter circle right - stop - 1 canter circle left followed by fast walk circle right - stop - 1 canter circle right followed by fast walk circle left - stop and dismount.

It definitely was not the ride we planned - but learned LOTS nonetheless.

1. If horse loses his birdie - first and only priority is to re-unite them.

2. The short serpentine can give the rider a simple plan to use in the saddle that will help the horse to refocus because it gives them something to do and fills every moment - especially if the horse has gotten into a state where he just has to move his feet..

3. Filling every moment in for the horse as above can help bring his mind back to himself rather than letting his imagination run away with him. It helps bring his birdie back.

4. While always offering the best deal first - the message has to get to the feet. Offer the lighter aids first, but use the reins if you need to.

5. Do as little as it takes, as much as it takes, but never more than it takes.

6. We can show the horse while the rider is up that we can help him feel ok - that has GOT to be important to him.

Saturdays ride was a lesson from the horse about getting the horse ok on the inside. Losing the birdie is dangerous and frustrating. Learning to get a horse's birdie back is invaluable - not just for helping the horse feel better, but for learning how to keep the birdie from leaving in the first place.

Comments, questions, your own experiences invited.

AlythLong

Hi Sandy, Can you please describe the "short serpentines". I understand the exercise "serpentine" but "short"??? Thanks. Alyth

Blue Flame

Alyth, others with much better understanding of it have described it in other posts on this forum and there is even a video of it linked somewhere here . . . . I'll try to dig them up for you.

But breifly, it is a series of half circles - quite short and quite tight as if riding around sagebrush or shrubs. The horse goes from bend to bend without any straight steps in between. One of the challenges of it for the rider is to ride every step in time with the feet - it involves intense focus on what you are doing and I think that aspect helps the horse mentally. Also, swinging from bend to bend laterally helps release braces in body and then mind.

Blue Flame

Dicussion here: Short Serpentine

Other variations discussed are that the serpentine may even backtrack on itself like 'candy ribbons' or yin/yang symbols.

Appellativo's diagram:

Blue Flame

From the next page on the thread linked above.

Blue Flame

Here's the video courtesy of Kathleen from the Short Serpentine thread on the other forum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n26b-u5IsUA&NR=1

becdubie

That Short Serpentine is exactly what I need to do with Bubba!!! He hasn't lost his Birdie(cute saying) with me riding him yet, but that's becasue I haven't taken him anywhere new. So this will prepare us for our first trail ride, plus, he's not very soft to turn.
That'll be our "program" for the next 7 sessions....hope he doesn't hate me afterwards.

Thanks for sharing Blue Flame.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Great story Blue, thank you for sharing it.

I remember being told years ago that horses can only think of one thing at a time. You get them to focus on ONE thing they know, and it brings their mind back. I've always called it "putting the squirrels back in the cage" but it is the same idea. I find small figure 8's work really well also. Especially if you've done the Patterns and the horse knows what you are asking. It helps them focus.

BTW this also works with Barn/Buddy sour horses.

bit

BTW this also works with Barn/Buddy sour horses.
Sometimes! Eclipse was not at all impressed with this one when she is focused on heading home. It works very well for her if she gets right brained. She is never right brained when rushing home, lol. Just damned determined.
Brent taught us the serpentine on the rail exercise, and it is pretty cool. Slightly bend the head in the direction you are turning, dissengage the hind quarters, and then bring the front around. Lots of isolating, and you are asking for something from the horse at all times. You are in constant contact with the horses mind. I think this exercise has been more meaningful to me because it's taught me to have some kind of connection with my horse at all times. I'd tended to sit for periods of time, just being a passenger. Not a good thing. Lots of people spend the whole ride like this.
Gunner lost his birdy watching team pinning last night. Not the team pinning, but the cows! Oh the cows! Kelsey just smiled, and let him work it out. She put herself between him and the cows, cocked a foot and simply relaxed. This helped him. Today she is going to go follow a calf around and hopefully help him with his cowphobia.
So depends on the horse, regarding the sudden departure of the birdie. Serpentines, falling leaf (that was Bunnie's bird recovery method), figure 8's (Eclipse likes this one), but you have to find what works for your horse. That's why it's so important to have a lot of tools in the tool belt, and not get too stuck on one trainer, or one way of doing things. But when the bird flies it's probably best to get off and work it out on the ground. Better than your horse sending you flying, too.

becdubie

Sunny

Another thing to remember with the short serpentine, or any serpentine for that matter is, you must be sitting up straight (in position 2), not leaning forward weighting the forehand and getting in your horse's way, and... time your aids with the front feet.

Ask the foot to move to the side AS it's coming off the ground. That's the only time you can influence the direction of the foot. Otherwise, as Buck says, "It's just called 'tripping'...." And, as with everything, ask with your seat and legs first, reins only if necessary.

becdubie

SavvyLearner...what exactly is Position 2? Is there somewhere I can look at the various sitting positions? or when each should be used?

Sunny

I'll get back to you tonight.... I'm at work, but I'll expain it fully for you.

In a short response:

Position 2 is upright in the saddle, above your seatbones... Where you should be riding all the time.

Position 1 is slightly forward, used ONLY for transitions upward.

Position 3, on your pockets, ONLY for transitions down or stop.

A back up is done from postion 2 with your shoulders ever so slightly back from center of gravity and legs opened a touch. Later!

Jack

I love doing serpentines but don't use them with a horse that is in reactionary mode and mentally disconnected from me. (lost his birdy?) If a horse is in that mental state I immediatly go to small circles, disengaging the hindquarters as we spin, until he comes back mentally. I do much prefer to prevent the horse from reaching this uncontrolable state and find serpentines very useful when used proactively. I've found that trying to accomplish serpentines with an uncontrollable horse offers an opportunity for the horse to regain his stiffness and bolt ahead in the direction he chooses. With inexperienced or physically weaker riders it is sometimes impossible for the rider to regain the bend needed for control once the horse has straightened his neck.

In the Buck Brannaman vid. we see a horse that is working on softness by doing serpentines. At one point Brannaman says that if he feels any brace in the horse he continues around the imaginary bucket to regain softness. He doesn't mention how many times he might continue around the bucket but I've found that often it takes a lot of revolutions before the horse softens and comes back to me. Buck's video however doesn't show a reactionary horse that is out of control but rather a well broke horse that is learning to balance and soften to the riders feel. It's certainly not a horse that I would say has "lost it's birdy".

Horses go reactionary for many reasons and at many levels. I was once riding a gelding that unbeknownst to me, was being stung by wasps under his forelock. I was able to keep him bent sharply in a circle for a couple of revolutions, allowing myself the time to emergency dismount for my own safety. Not until I got back to the barn, where he had run wildly on his own, did I discover the swelling around his eyes that gave me the answer as to what caused the blowup.

I do love serpentines but don't think the time to use them is when a horse is becoming uncontrolable. When I feel a horse brace I myself continue on around the bucket.

I'm probably speaking of a different scenario but "loosing the birdy" sounds like the horse has become reactionary. Once the birdy is lost serpentines wouldn't be my choice of tools for finding it. Maybe it just depends on the size of the bird.

Jack

Blue Flame

Jack, very good point about the opportunity to straighten and bolt in the serpentine. I'll have to keep that in mind in future.

In this instance, the fences helped minimise the opportunity for bolting.

If the fence is between the horse and where he wants to go, and you serpentine along the fence, then the opportunity to bolt only presents when the horse is either facing the fence or facing away from the fence. The fence stops him bolting home and when he is facing the other way it is the opposite direction to that which he wants, so he'll bend back towards the fence again. If, however, you are on the same side of the fence as the place the horse wants to go, then yes, he could straighten and bolt home. This is of course all dependent on us knowing where the birdie is, where the horse wants to go, the direction he is drawn to, what his idea is. In this case it was pretty obvious.

Maybe our success was more to do with good luck using the serpentines in this situation, with the fences fortunately being in the right places for this setup. However, now that I've learned something else thanks to your observation of the opportunity to bolt, I will not hesitate next time to claim it was good management.

As to why he lost his birdie (well, not really lost, it just flew back to the herd 500m away) in a place he has never had trouble before . . . . Hindsight tells me that recent weather conditions make it likely the pasture is high in potassium and nitrates. A pasture analysis done 1 year ago supports this but since the pasture has been limed since then I thought it'd be ok - maybe not. This not only causes hyperKalemia (Ka - potassium excess) but also exhausts sodium, calcium and magnesium reserves in the horse as the horse must use these up to expell the nitrates. As the resulting mineral imbalances wreak havoc with a horse's nervous and muscular systems, the symptoms can be manifold - herd bound being one of the many. Diet has now been adjusted to include more salt and calcium to compensate. The pasture is high in magnesium anyway so we won't need to really add any of that.

PasoBaby_CarolU

I used to think that too Jack, but have found circles, while a good way to be in control, aren't a very good way to get a horse to focus again. They only work one side of the brain, and a wild RB horse will circle a long time, and some only get more upset. I get DIZZY circling too much.

I think the advantage to short serpentines or 8's is that you force the horse to change eyes and use both sides of the brain. This helps bring the horse back to center. Also, if you are using your body and focus correctly, then you are DIRECTING the horse, and I think horses whose squirrels are out, really benefit by direction and calm with it.

If you are worried about bolting home, what might be done, using a fence is ti always turn back to it, kind of like a bowtie. As Blue says, the fence takes the forward and slows it down.

In thinking about this, probably a big key in success is fixing it before it gets this bad. In other words, work on the barn/buddy sour gradually and focus the horse before they are too far from their comfort zone.

Great discussion.

thelmanelle

I agree once the neck is straight and the bolt is happening, the serpentine happens usually after the emergency dismount...

I love serpentine exercises to get them back to you.

Blue Flame

All well and good while/if the horse still respects the fences . . . .

Another great point Carol about the changing of eyes.

Jack

Since I work with a number of inexperience and young riders I always consider "control" to be the first priority. Maybe it's this experience that causes me to interpret "loosing the bird" as an out of control horse. I certainly agree that serpentines are a great excercise and use them often in the right situation. My example was how one might regain control of a horse when it truely has lost it's mind (the bird) or even if the rider only thinks that's the case. I instruct my students to turn the horse into a circle whenever they have any doubts about what is happening or their ability to control the horse. It's worked well for them and when my own horse was being stung by wasps it worked well for me.

Turning into a fence, whether the fence is physical or imaginary, is what I call "doubling". It is a great excercise for gaining attention and getting a horses focus back to the rider. The point about the horse using both sides (eyes) is also very relevent. I've also found that when doubling is done with energy the horse is likely to become more energetic in it's own actions. The energy level seem's to go up and often the attention goes down when I do this pattern with speed. It's repetitions of these movements, and familiarity that helps the horse learn to do them calmly and effectively. This is true with all patterns that we do with our horses, or at least it should be true.

I find flexing from side to side, whether underway or at the stand still, is a very good way to gain a horses attention and focus. I have a friend that considers flexing at the standstill to be the "reset" button for almost any problem. I personally use a number of patterns, depending on the horse and my own feel at the time. I try very hard to be thinking ahead of the horse and find that the proactive rider is usually the most successful in having a focused and willing horse. By being proactive I believe the horse finds it easy to stay with his rider both mentally and physically.

I don't know a lot about Dr. Deb but the term "loosing the bird" seems to indicate an out of control type situation. If you can direct and control your horses feet I think the "bird" is still somewhere close at hand. At least that's my way of looking at it.

Just speaking of my own experiences for the sake of discussion.

Jack

PasoBaby_CarolU

Jack you bring up some good points. Working with kids you always need to think of safety first. I agree.

Something my father did when we were kids and my sister's horse was great one to run away home, was he gave her "an emergency brake." Mind you this was __years ago, before emergency dismounts, DD or Buck. We also rode in the foothills a few miles from our house, and part of the ride home was along a very busy road. Circles, serpentines, none of those would work because of the area, but he did give her 'brakes.'

What he did was put a dog choke chain around the horse's nose band and back through the halter ring. Attached to one rein to the saddle, it was never used for anything until needed. Reina was a very smart horse. It didn't take her too long to give up this particular 'stunt.' I don't usually recommend this now, but we are all adults here into training our horses correctly. This was a situation with kids and all about safety. I bring it up for Jack and his unique situation. My nephew was run away with in Spain through Olive orchards and along steep mountain concrete roads. It was terrifying...and all could have been avoided with a 'brake.'

bit

lol, just got a cartoon image Carol! Horse bolting out of control, rider straining to throw anchor off horse to stop him! I'm seeing an official Parelli logo on the anchor and a fifty dollar dvd included with your order.
Something Kelsey pointed out to me the other day when Ecipse was doing her, "I'm heading home with ya or without ya" thang. I did a rr disengage with her, but had not disengaged her hg's so we were, as Kelsey put it, "just walking around in a circle." That rr disengage needs to include a stepping over of the hind feet.
I noticed that Kelsey is doing a little of everything teaching Ecipse to relax and walk home, depending on the horse and that moment in time. She may serpentine, she may disengage, she may ask her to go faster, she may ask her to soften and back up. Depends. It's been pretty fun watching Ecipse try to out think her, and Kelsey coming right back with something "else" the minute she does. None of this is going to do me any good if I don't learn this stuff too. It's so much better having Kelsey there to use her TEACHING VOICE and guide me with Ecipse. You can't just send your horse off to a trainer and expect the horse to act any differently when you get on if you weren't learning right along with the horse.

Blue Flame

We once went on a ride with a very fine horseman who was responsible for the training of a string of trekking horses to be suitable for inexperienced riders. It wasn't a trek, it was a training ride. He had a few tricks up his sleeve.

1. We go out faster than we come home.
2. We come home a different way than we went out.
3. If you show excess energy coming home, then we take a progressively longer route to help you use that energy up.
4. If you walk calmly you can walk on the nice ground - if not, then we walk on the difficult ground.
5. Sometimes, we just stop for awhile.

becdubie

Ooooo good ones Blue Flame!
It's all coming back to me, I used to ride all the time when I was a teenager...I used everyone of those tricks.
Especially #4...but I iused it if he wouldn't stop eating grass when walking alongside the road...so I'd say OK...up to the gravel we go...it worked.

Blue Flame

Yeah, that guy was all about never wasting equine energy. If a horse had energy, even if it was RB energy, he was all about constructively putting it to good use.

PasoBaby_CarolU

I think I like No. 5 on that list. It reminds me of an exercise Margaret had us do with our high energy PFs, adding it to Point to Point. You'd stop and tell a joke on each point.

I can't say that any of the others would help my horses...maybe on the 3rd or 4th day of riding. That is one disadvantage of 'hot' breeds, you don't get them tired and in their mind, there is no excess or running out of energy. They love to go everywhere pretty fast.

I spend almost the entire first year just WALKING my horses so they learn that first. Everything else comes pretty naturally, but walking is a learned exercise.

Blue Flame

PasoBaby_CarolU

My horses are pretty relaxed (and fat) at home. But take them anywhere, and they will go all day, day after day, unless you do serious elevation you don't wear them out, ever. I've never seen horses that like to GO so much. Zar will PUSH slow horses or mules in front of her with her nose to get them to walk faster. It's pretty funny.

Our best days are spent on the trails with other fast horses. Not that we gait everywhere, but we still walk faster then most horses trot.

It does make me laugh about all those methods that depend on the horse's getting tired. Mine wear me out a lot sooner then I could wear them out.

Best to teach a WALK cue from the Get-Go.

I am (trying to) help a woman on another forum who just adopted a horse with no WALK. She can't touch him with ANY leg or use ANY rein on him. All either does is make him go faster. Now.....ya'll imagine THAT scenario!

AlythLong

These posts have made me smile!! I am so glad my "walking everywhere" programme has been validated!! I spend so much time walking for at least a year. With just occasional trots to vary the questions I am asking. We go up and down hills - that is a biggie - the hills gradually get longer and steeper - and it is a major imo. We do hq yields, fq yields, turns, half circles, circles, sideways and anything else I can think of while travelling all sorts of different trails. We go to the beach and walk along the sand, and walk along the little waves doing all the above mentioned moves. Oh yes, stops and back ups of varying lengths.

"Losing the birdie" imo can start simply with his attention on something else, not you. And then it escalates. That is what Pat and the other "experts" mean when they say "do less sooner". I have only had a panic once. With my old faithful Spider. We started to do a short distance endurance ride, wearing the PNH hackamore. And he got quite jumpy. Remember he is a rbi!! And I could sense that he was gathering himself up and would explode any second!! I leapt off, grabbing the 12' line and immediately asked him for sideways, then backwards. And within 30, no 15! seconds he was saying "yes maam, how far maam???"!!! So we quietly went to a bank and he stood immobile for me to mount and we proceeded at a calm walk!!! I was so glad that I had learned some techniques that I could use in an "oh no" situation!!!. Before doing PNH I would have got off, and been as scared as anything leading him back to the float, loaded up and gone home!!! As it was we had a quite uneventful ride and both of us really enjoyed ourselves!! So to get the mind back you need to go either sideways and/or backwards, not forwards in an unending circle. Fwiw, when I was a Pony Club instructor I used to teach the learners, and I taught them to anchor their outside hand in the mane to steady themselves and use the inside rein to get the horse to move into a circle that got tighter and tighter so theoretically the horse would stop. I never thought of the horse turning so tightly it - he - would fall over!!!

Sorry for the epistle according to Alyth - but I hope you enjoyed reading it, after all second hand gold is of equal value to newly mined gold!!

Blue Flame

appellativo

There's another little dance step that I learned from BB that is particularly useful when the horse has excess energy; let's see if I can describe it well. walking and counting in time with the horse's front feet:

one-two-three-four in a straight line

disengage the hq in a half circle 1-2-3-4,

bring the fq around (hq staying still) 1-2-3-4

back facing the same way you started! in a straight line 1-2-3-4 and so on.

it'll take you a while to make it once around the arena at this one too.

PasoBaby_CarolU

That sounds great Erin. I am remembering Linda's exercise with counting steps and doing transitions, the horse DOES learn to count. I think this exercise could really focus a horse, because one he's learned it, it is pretty hard wired to count those steps....and that would indeed help focus him.

Horses have amazing memories (of both good and bad things).

Thanks! That sounds like a great exercise.

thebundychick