Sure am going to miss this mare! She goes home next week. Three months ago this mare was completely unhandled, unpredictable, and now we have a willing partner!
Can your horse handle the presence of a tarp?
What about the sound?
Can they handle the tarp moving or being throw over their back?
Can you ride your while holding a tarp?
If your answer for any of these is a No- your horse has a hole in their foundation that needs to be filled.
In my program this is an essential step that I don’t skip. At the end of the day the tarp is a whole lot scarier than myself. And no I don’t mean waving the tarp around being all crazy and hectic until your horse freezes into a stop. There is a certain way to do this correctly and that is not it! Can’t give out all my secrets though so enjoy this video of me riding gypsy while sitting on the tarp. Notice how she’s essentially ignoring the tarp, but continuing to listen to me and follow me for guidance! Bingo!! ❤️
Random clips from December- January
I
Jasper
This was Jasper second ride I believe. Little video I put together! Jasper ended up going home early. I enjoyed the time I spent with him!
I don’t own the music. *
Ginger! One of my personal horses. I started her last spring then bred her so she’s been sitting, but she’s going back to work this fall! She’s a big drafty girl ❤️ she is bred to mammoth donkey that WILL BE AVAILABLE!
Filly
This little girl seriously could care less about all my “scary” objects. She’s going to be a good one!
Filly
Coming three year old first saddle. Absolutely no wiggles. This little filly is so easy going! Posting bunch of videos and photos so they are saved and I can’t delete them off my phone ! Need space lol!
Rain’s second ride. Let me tell you when I started getting a handle on this mare and introduced her to “ scary” objects her reaction was to go from completely okay and within a second broncing around! Most of the time with no pre-warning. I built up her confidence and showed her that blowing up only makes the situation worse until she comes back to me and then she would find that release. Rain understands and trusts that I (the leader) will guide her through any sticky situation and uncomfortable situations. We had a short sweet session today working on following her nose and to move forward off leg pressure. I’ll take this as a win anyday!
Do you have a horse that is constantly trying to find an out? Or a horse that when in the round pen or lunging completely dissociate’s itself? Maybe your horse is constantly looking over the panels to the outside? 99% of these kinda horses have no clue how to “draw in”. Sure you may be able to pull your horse in when you have them on the lead rope, but if you can draw your horse in at liberty this is your horses way of saying they are here with you 100%. At this point you know they are paying attention and waiting/ asking questions from the human (leader). Rain is doing so good both at liberty and on a lunge line. Rain can move around respectively, change directions, draw in, and stop. Notice how when I draw her in she instantly cock’s a back leg? This is her way of saying “I’m chill” and her way of putting the parking break on.
Two month ago this mare didn’t understand nor care about the presence of a human. She’d never seen a halter or cared to. She was someone’s back yard pet for three years. Someone’s back yard pet that had learned her own way of avoidance and how to get out of situations that made her uncomfortable. It took me and four other people a couple hours to get this mare loaded into a trailer. She would blow right past us and in fact I’m sure she would’ve ran us over had we given her that option. Her first week here at OEH she learned that humans aren’t quite that bad. She learned to accept touch which led to getting a halter on for the first time. Any pressure this mare felt at first she would instantly try to evade (flight) with a rear and spin to get away. I kept at it and showed her that rearing, spinning, kicking, and running off wouldn’t get me to leave her alone. (but wait…This worked to scare off/ get out of working with others- why not you?) Instead she learned that any bit of willingness she gave me would lead to a release (break). Everyday I built her up to this moment. I got to step up on the side of a once wild mustang today and she didn’t run off with me or get remotely worried. She softened and quietly waited for my guidance. Today rain can be caught, all four feet picked out, lunge respectively both directions, can be saddled, bridled, confidently cross over any object, totally okay with tarps-noodles, or bouys hanging off her side, and most of all today rain can be a horse that doesn’t fear everything around her/ the unknown. I love this “little” mare. Her owners sure did get lucky with her and I’m quite fond.
Flanking. A very touchy training exercise among the colt starting world. I usually try to avoid doing this exercise, but there comes a time and a place where flanking can be very beneficial for the horse.
This time for rain was last week. I came to find out that although rain is completely fine with flags big or small, tarps, and ropes moving all around her body at a stand still. BUT with any forward movement and any of these objects near her rear she would kick out with very much purpose. After a few days of working on building her confidence with the flag/ ropes at a forward movement with little to no improvement decided it was time to flank her. Oh man I wish I would’ve recorded the first flanking, because this mare sure showed me her moves. When flanking I send the horse out around me and eventually pick up on that flank rope with just a bump- if the horse completely loses it and proceeds to buck and run off that rope gets pulled tight (increasing the pressure) until they come back to there sense and start listening to me( the human). Therefor teaching them that reacting to the thing that makes them uncomfortable rather than stopping and asking the human questions does nothing, but makes the situation worse. I keep doing this until I bump that flank rope and in exchange that horse yields there hind end and gives me two eyes. Rain caught on super quick and this video is of her second session with a flank rope. She never blew, never ran off, dragged me around, or kicked out. The most she did was speed up, but still didn’t drag me around that round pen! I’ll take this response vs the first one I saw! Took her a few laps, but she remembered that I hold the answer to her worries!
I’m here to share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Everything sure isn’t all rainbows and giggles when training these 1000+ IBS animals.
Rain
⬅️One month ago
•untouchable
•scared
• wild
•nervous
•would rear/ spin with any pressure
➡️Now
•willing
•halter broke
•handable (leads, lunges, feet handled)
•soft
• not so wild ❤️
She’s going to get introduced to the saddle tomorrow 😊
Jasper
Always listen to the horse and what they are telling you they need!
After a couple rides on Jasper I realized he still had some insecurities on a certain side. Then the cold snap hit and so I couldn’t really ride any training horses! We took a step back after the weather warmed back up and I did a few exercises to give him some more confidence on that side. Fast forward a few rides later and we have a confident horse going both directions. No horse has the same time line. They all learn and absorb information at there own rate. Definitely an important part of my program is being on the horses time and working at their level.
Jasper
You recognize this guy? Because I don’t! He’s over came so much mentally and I can really say this guy lives much happier life now due to it. Understands everything is not out to get him nowadays!
We had another good ride yesterday after taking a step back and making sure I covered all the basis.
Rain
Rain sure is coming along. Excited for this one.
Rain
A month ago this mare came in unhandled scared and fearing the unknown. Today she’s a good citizen that can be haltered, get all four feet picked up, lunge respectfully both directions, and she is learning all
About tarps and other potential scary objects. Learning that they don’t mean anything regardless of the situation and she’s better off listening and responding to my guidance then reacting to the object that doesn’t matter. I matter more!😊
Jasper
Jasper had his first ride with forward movement yesterday and he did really well! Normally I like to be in a round pen and have someone on the ground so I can essentially be the passenger. But time was ticking along and I knew he was ready. So here we are doing things a little differently. Yesterday I just wanted to get some forward movement. Not going to be greedy and try to “steer” where I want him to go! Im just going to allow for him to pick where he would like to go as long as it’s forward. Doing things a little slower, but I’d rather be safe then sorry when I don’t have help around 😊🤠
Enjoy this little clip of the end of his ride! We just hit the end of his first 30 days 😊
Little clip from todays session with Jasper. He flexed very nicely both directions. I asked for a few hind end disengagements and although he didn’t make the maneuver correctly he was so relaxed through it all and kept his cool. This is what preparing them properly gets you! Build that foundation 😊
Jasper
Jasper had the weekend off and we started off our session today just doing some lunging and making sure he was nice and soft. After we immediately moved onto stepping up on him. He took this so well. First ride very soon! He has made so much progress in a little less than a month 😊
