Serafin smile
Last week I was finally able to switch out Fin’s cut dragline for a new and actually useful one. Now that we have a little control of his feet we’re making much faster progress with him. He is still a sensitive colt so I’m being careful not to push him over his threshold, but it’s nice to be able to inch my way further back without him taking off the millisecond that he gets even a smidge uncomfortable. 😅 Another perk to the dragline is that we were finally able to get started on giving to halter pressure and started on leading. Though all those days we spent basically ropeless gave us lots of time to practice coming to a whistle, a bit of a silver lining to the otherwise very inconvenient setback.
Fin is still easily overwhelmed by touch, so I needed to find other things to work on while we built up some confidence and trust between us. And since his foot is still a bit tender I also needed to limit movement during our lessons as much as possible. The solution for him was to get an early start on learning to smile. Turns out this kid is going to take to trick training like a duck to water. 😂 This video was maybe his third lesson on smile and he’s already pretty much figured it out. This horse is ridiculously smart and going to be so much fun to work with once he’s gentled. He’s also finally figured out the cue “go to your room”, and more importantly he also now walks calmly when he puts himself away at the end of our lessons.
Valkyrie
Shortly after Gremlin’s previous video was taken she managed to slip her halter off, and as it turned out she wasn’t nearly as confident as she had led us to believe. Without the halter Gremlin, now named Valkyrie, was in fact much more honest about her opinions on being anywhere near people. We went from leaning into and melting for good neck scratches to not even being able to get near her for several days. So we basically got to start over with her as though she were completely untouched. Can’t say that I loved that.
We spent several days where we had to build up to just touching her again. In that time gap we filled we filled our lessons with some very easy Liberty work. She had a pretty good start on coming to my whistle at this point but backing was still not an easy task for her. And even now is still shaky at best. She’s a very forward girl and going in reverse just does not come naturally to her.
Once I could get my hands on her again we went through a fun phase where she would allow touch, but tried nipping whenever I went past the front of her face. She still seems unhappy with her cheeks touched, and is especially unenthusiastic about her lips being handled, which is not super surprising with the scar she has there. It might just be a coincidence but we may need to have a vet to take a look at her once she’s tamed down.
The reaction kyrie had to her tag being touched was pretty surprising since we had been playing with it previously without any issues both before and after her halter was off. I believe she was still not as confident as she liked to pretend she was. After the spook we had to go back to just working on getting her trust again for the rest of this session. Two steps forward and one step back.
Once we were at least back where we had started I introduced her to switching hands. The video shows just how sensitive these mustangs are to even the slightest changes in our bodies. She was given a positive introduction to the change
Beezy trim
Beezy was long past due for his trim, so I figured why not also turn it into a mini desensitizing day for the new mustangs? You can see Serafin in the background of the videos, he was less than thrilled at the start and stayed as far away from us as he could get. After a few minutes he got brave enough to creep up to his stall door and watch from there. I think he was hoping it would open on its own so he could hide from the scary grinder. 😂
By the time I switched to Beezy’s other side Fin had started to relax and creeped closer, and then closer, and then even closer. He seemed pretty fascinated that Beezy was just letting me hang all over him and use the grinder on his feet without a care in the world. It definitely brought out a bit of curiosity in Fin and gave him something to think about.
Panel crasher
Very late but here is an older update on our lil panel crashing friend. This video was from his second week here, and as expected this guy was slow to come around. We spent our first two weeks just working on him allowing me to approach without taking off and running into walls. Because of his high reactivity and lack of self preservation I opted to ignore his dragline. With how overly sensitive he was the added stress from halter pressure likely would have made this particular horse hurt himself. So the slow and mind numbingly tedious route was required.
Once he was over panel crashing he developed a fun habit of swinging his hip towards me and threatening to kick out. Thankfully that didn’t last very long and he got started on disengaging his hind quarters when asked. By the point this video was taken the problem was already mostly resolved and the hip swings were at best half hearted. His threatening head bobbing was still going strong though, and continued to be a problem until very recently. I’m very glad that’s over with.
On a far more positive note he was quickly picking up on the cue to touch my hand in exchange for a bit of hay. Small victories but they important stepping stones for this sensitive beauty. More recent videos coming soon!
Does anyone need a babysitter pony? Not entirely convinced this thing was wild. Or a horse. Pretty sure someone lost their Great Dane at the corrals. 😂 whose looking for their new best friend?
Serafin update
Video from last week with Serafin (Fin). At this point we were just starting to get over trying to bite and pawing at me every time I touched him. Scrappy lil colt. 😂 you can see Fin still picking up a leg up and consider striking at me a few times in this video. But at least it was with much less commitment than was usual for him.
On another good note he was really starting to figure out how to come when I whistle. As best as he can anyway with that lamed foot. Much better here than it was previously. Poor kid couldn’t hold any weight in it for a few days there.
Fin’s still not a super big fan of me touching him, but we’re making progress. And he’s now very comfortable with me walking up to him and me just being close. Preferably without the touching. 😂 He’ll get there eventually, for now I’ll enjoy his begrudging tolerance.
This video is a bit longer than I originally intended. But I need to get the backlogged videos uploaded to YouTube before I can start splicing newer ones. So apologies to those looking forward to more condensed content here. 😅 I will be trying that out soon!
This video is from the golden gremlin's second day here. This is a longer video so it took awhile to get it edited down into a somewhat reasonable length.
Here we were working on giving to halter pressure and leading a bit better. And from much more willing light touches all the way to getting her first good scratches in. Which she very much enjoyed. Because she is such a pushy and forward horse we also started working on establishing boundaries and learning how to back up. Something she very much needed to learn asap.
Unfortunately a day or two after this video she slipped her halter off. And without that little bit of control she’s been far less willing to let me touch past her face. Despite how much she likes being scratched on. 🙄 so that’s been fun to deal with. Brightside we’re almost back to where things were in this video. Plus a bit of liberty work that we’ve picked up along the way. Silver lining I suppose.
For those of you that have read this far, and actually do watch the videos, I have a quick question. Do you guys like watching the longer clips like this one here, or would shorter and to the point be better? Say 3-5 minute videos instead of these long 10+ minute ones? I could still post the longer videos on my YouTube channel should anyone still want to see them. But would shorter ones be preferred here? I’d love to hear what you guys think.
Lil panel crasher
The intense heat wave has finally passed and we’re back to at least the 90’s and therefore back to work. So here’s an update on our lil golden panel crashing friend here. 😂
As you can clearly hear we’re still verrrry snorty. But I can now walk up to him (mostly) and offer some food and he will usually take it. Kid has a lot of personality and I look forward to a more trusting relationship with him in the future.
Pony popsicles
We are having one hell of a heatwave here in Oregon this weekend with temperatures sitting around 103°-106°. So until this passes we’re taking it easy and making sure the horses stay as comfortable as possible. And a lil frozen treat certainly helps with beating the heat. Can’t wait until this is over.
Serafin day 3
Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope y’all are having a fun and safe day and everyone wakes up tomorrow with all 10 of their fingers. 😂
This videos is from Serafins third session. We’re moving a little slow with this guy. Not having a usable dragline definitely makes the process take longer. And unfortunately the corrals trimmed him very short and off balance on his left front.
If you watch closely you can see the limp in the video. It has since then turned into a full blown abscess. Poor kid is 3 legged lame. I wish we could help him, but there really isn’t anything we can do for him when he’s not yet gentle. Brightside he likes to stand in his water bucket so at least he’s keeping it soaked for us. 😅 downside he’s wasting sooo much water. I hope it’s at least helping him feel a little bit better.
First session with miss Menace
First training session with miss Menace. She picked up on giving to halter pressure and leading super quickly. And while she was fine with booping my hand she was far less interested in face pets, but was more irritated than fearful of them. She’s a very bold and confident mare, so we might need to focus more on getting control of her feet before we worry too much about touching her and making her even more confident than she already is. 😅 this horse is waaaaaay to big to not have some boundaries. So for now I might need to take advantage of what little weariness she still has for humans before it’s gone for good and we have a pushy monster on our hands. Basic manners, then friendship later with this one.
Serafin
First session down with the grulla pinto colt, now named Serafin. Thankfully he’s pretty willing to work with me seeing as he’s now sporting what’s left of my dragline. Gunna be sad about that loss for a bit.
It didn’t take him long at all to figure out both my negative and positive cue markers. Which is fortunate since he likes to turn his hip on his problems. And in his opinion I was a pretty big problem. 😅 But he is very responsive, fast to learn, and curious. All of which makes up for the defensiveness.
While the little weirdo rejected my green grass he was verrry willing to inhale some alfalfa from my hand. Apparently this boy just has expensive taste. 💅 thankfully the other two are cheaper. Pretty sure the menace mare will eat anything she can get her greedy mouth on. 😂
First sessions with the new load went pretty well. Aside from our little panel crashing friend here. He’s gorgeous but hot blooded, but that’s what I was expecting from this guy so no surprises there. Unloading the night before was eventful, he had gotten his line tangled with the other colts, and for the first time ever I had to cut one of my ropes. RIP to one of my favorite draglines. 🥲 looks like I’m gunna have to make another order to Ridgecreek tack soon, so a silver lining I suppose.
Star (placeholder name) is probably going to be a hard nut to crack, and will without question be the most difficult of the 3 newbies to gentle. But for a horse this ridiculously pretty he will be well worth the extra effort. And possible dents to my panels. 🥲
We have a problem
She’s a menace. An absolute menace. 😂🥲 RIP to anything in there that isn’t screwed to a wall or nailed to the earth.
Rest stops
Just a few more hours to go and we’ll be home. Which is for the best since they’ve already vacuumed up their hay piles. 😂 this might be the first trip where I’m not scrapping wasted hay out of my trailer afterwards. By time we get home the mare might have licked my mats clean. 🤣
Quick pit stop
Nevada pit stop successfully done. 😂 surprise! More horses. This golden eyed beauty is just breathtaking up close. I can’t wait to get all these guys home and out of this desert heat. 🥵 Oregon here we come!
