Caroline’s cruisin’ into the week like…
Our arena view isn’t so bad. Super grateful we have access to such a great spot to ride. Thanks Deb!
Getting this youngin out on the trails.
I really need to get back on my A game with updates.
There has been many horses in and a couple have gone home.
However today I wanted to post about this newbie, Tonto. Today was my first session with him and he did really well.
Tonto’s owner made it very clear that he was not a fan of water. Today we worked on that after our session. I find that it helps get the horses liking to be sprayed off after they’ve got a nice sweat on them.
When a horse is really timid of the hose I like to get them used to the water in an area that allows them to move around.
A lot of times folks will tie the horse up to get them used to something. Such as fly spray or even in the wash stall to be sprayed, but I find that sometimes this makes the horse feel extremely vulnerable as it eliminates their escape route.
I worked briefly with desensitizing the airspace around him to the hose. Meaning I didn’t go directly to trying to spray him off. Instead I spent time spraying the ground near him and getting him comfortable to that.
Once I find the horse fairly comfortable with this I then move to spraying off their topline area. I save the feet for last as they are the most valuable aspect to the horse, typically their most protected part of their body.
After about 5-10 minutes he was willingly standing to be hosed down.
Looking forward to seeing this guy blossom.
And we roll on...
I’ve introduced many horses into new herds. This was different.
If you saw former posts you’ll know that Winston has lived many years alone. Some horses can handle it—SOME. Most of them cannot. Really though, they shouldn’t have to.
When Winston first came here about a week and a half ago he was literally awestruck being able to smell the other horses and see them interacting in a herd setting.
I’ve kept him alone where he can see the horses but not touch them, then moved him to a location where he can touch noses.
He was literally mesmerized by their smell and just being that close to them.
I didn’t want to just throw him out with the others. From what I’ve experienced sometimes a horse that’s lived alone for so long actually loses their social skills. They may pick fights they don’t intend or send the wrong message.
Winston also was overall very anxious of his surroundings.
I didn’t want to put him in a herd and have him automatically get beaten up on for these reasons—anxiety, lack of social skills.
The alpha of the herd is typically (hopefully) one that doesn’t want any unnecessary nonsense. You’ll notice the alphas will pick on or reject the horse that rings the alarm excessively or causes a lot of drama.
If you know the story of The Boy That Cried Wolf, you’ll understand why. If a horse is constantly telling the herd “there’s danger” but there really isn’t. They become a threat to the others. So the alpha will typically try to knock some sense into this over dramatic, panicker.
Usually this comes in a form of discipline, redirection or leading by example and completely ignoring the horse’s behavior.
I didn’t want Winston to go into the herd being a ball of nerves. That basically would put a big sign on him that says “Look at me, I’m a hinderance! Kick me, kick me!”
Sometimes this is an OK situation as you can rely on the other calm or neutral horses to help bring the horse’s anxiety level down
So i left ...
20 minutes.
I sat on a mounting block for 20 minutes while Winston anxiously tracked around the roundpen.
I don’t ask him to move out, I keep my energy low and yet he still just moves out and starts doing this. So, I just sat and waited until he was done sorting through his emotions.
It’s not 100% certain why he is anxious about me being in the roundpen.
It could be that he previously was taught to just frantically run around in one, that he feels anxious in a working environment, or that he just flat out thinks this is what I want.
Either way, I just waited. I wanted one of two things to happen:
1: for him to slow up some or stop
2: for him to become inquisitive
Eventually he slowed down and came in to see me. I quietly got up and left the roundpen.
Sometimes training doesn’t look like much. It’s not cool pictures of horses doing handstands, or sliding stops or rearing on command. There’s no being drug across the arena, or rope burns and arms being ripped from rotator cuffs. It doesn’t look “cowboy” or exciting.
Sometimes it’s quiet and uneventful... but sometimes those moments are some of the biggest moments to the horse.
We reward them for peace, for try, for growth.
So when Winston showed me in the slightest that he was gathering his emotions, whatever they were... I left him alone.
Stormy.
Anxious, nervous, but has a good heart.
Stormy is young and unfortunately spent most of his life living inside a stall. Not only is that an extremely unhealthy lifestyle for a horse but it also keeps them really sheltered and they don’t get to see much, literally.
He’s really uncertain about so many things but he has a heart of gold. We’ve had a heck of a time getting in sync and on the same page when working, simply because he is borderline mesmerized by all of the happenings.
Today was a huge breakthrough for him and he was far more focused on me and had his head in the game.
This video shows him turning in to face me when I run up to catch his eye. A good indication that the horse is aware of me and being considerate of my whereabouts and also not being rude by turning his hind end to me.
This little guy had a rough first two days with the saddle. He’s insecure but also can be a little snotty and needs to learn a lot more about the rules of life and how to do this “horsey thing”.
He’s made a leap towards better behavior today and I’m happy for him. We can only go up from here.
Good job buddy.
Lilly is getting really efficient with this trilling business!
We’ve been progressing on Nevada’s ability to trot out. She really had zero understanding of leg aids when she came here.
Today I had a helper, Karlye assist with being my passenger. Basically what we did was work together to simulate a rider moving her forward and out off of leg cues. It’s a safer method with me on the ground as it enables me to be able to redirect her feet in the event that she has any sort of explosion or needs my help.
It’s a unique approach but it’s working for Nevada.
Tomorrow we will build on this and hopefully getting her moving out completely without any ground direction at all and just the rider.
A big shout out to Karlye who is a good sport and willing to help out with this! She’s a beginner to horses and did marvelous remaining calm and confident.
A little video I put together to show Nevada’s progress and some work we have been doing today. She’s really chilling out to the noises and stimulation of me laying on her and rubbing her all over. You can see how much lighter she is on the halter now when she is asked to flex at the end of the video.
I’ve basically been starting Nevada over from ground zero and working my way up. This helps me to find any “holes” in her foundation that will answer the questions to why she has explosions under saddle. She doesn’t appear to have much understanding of pressure on the halter or how to “connect” her halter to her body.
Today we worked on a yielding exercise that not only teaches her to face me, give me two eyes and move her hindquarters away from me when I approach her it also helps keep her soft on the halter. I don’t want her bracing on me when she passes through. Keep an eye on the slack in the lead rope. You will see that I apply pressure and send her forward, if she does not respond to the pressure on the halter I then begin tapping on the shoulder or applying pressure there, encouraging her to move forward. Once she moves on I will then look at her hindquarters and step towards them, asking for her to yield them away. I then follow through with the stick and string by spanking it on the ground to encourage her to swing the hindquarters away and keep softness on the rope.
The goal is to be able to do this exercise with no stick and string to aid her in understanding the pressure on the halter and responding to body language.
