Hepburn’s growth

04/09/2023

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20/11/2022

With this post we reached the end of our journey. Thank you all for following and supporting me though this epic journey of growth and experience.

Though this last semester I have learned how to be a better horsewomen. I learned patients, how to observe you horse to help them intake the new information better, and learning the differences between when they tell you they hit a limit, or are just trying to get out of work.

Hepburn is a fairly laid back yearling. That can cause problems as she can get very passive aggressive when made to do something she dislikes. This made me have to be very aware when we hit a point where she no longer listening and that we either have to call it a day or find a way to unblocked her brain to be able to effectively continue. Also due to her personality, when she got mad or upset she would not act excessively right away, but build up to that point. Learning when I needed to push past the blow up in order to get the best results.

For people who plan to take this class, hang on its a ruff ride, but supper fun. You get to see your hard work at the end and even as you progress through the semester. Be prepared to fail. Stay open minded, you will never know where the best lessons come from. Your TAs and classmates are there with you, do not be afraid to ask for help. Overall have fun, you are making a friend that is relying on you to teach them and hopefully they will go on and becomes someone’s life companion.

Please enjoy the photos taken throughout the semester.

13/11/2022

Week 10
Our final week
This is our final week together as preview day and sale day was this Saturday. Thank you all for following along and supporting Hepburn and me.

Monday we spent this day getting our first bath. One of my classmates helped me by holding Hepburn while I sprayed her down. She did try to get away or push against my classmate. Thanks to our previous lessons on yielding, it never got to the point it was dangerous. She eventually settled down and was ok with the water spraying her. After giving her a good scrub down and scrape down, I tried spraying her with the spray bottle again. She finally realized that it was not going to hurt her. She still did not stand completely still while I sprayed her but she did not completely freak out. I then went on and gave her a good grooming and braided her hair.

Tuesday I mainly worked in the arena. We worked on being comfortable with walking over a tarp. She like to put her front feet on the tarp and as soon as her back feet would touch or when the tarp would touch her back legs she would jump the tarp. After several attempts she finally would calmly walk over and stand on it. I made sure to rub to tarp all over her making sure to focus on her face, legs and under belly. She is now ok with the tarp.

Thursday we continued working and the arena. Just reintroducing the trap as she kinda forgot it was not scary. Another class mate brought a fitness ball. That was fun to introduce it to Hepburn. It did not take her long to get used to it. Shortly after rubbing the ball on her I was able to bounce it on and around her, with her standing calmly.

She had the day off Friday as it was down pouring.

05/11/2022

Week 9

Week by week we are getting closer to preview day and sale day.

Monday I was told that Hepburn tried to filp over on the fairrier during her trimming. I’m not sure what lead to that kind of reaction, as she has never had that kind of reaction. The most exaggerate reaction she has was when she would fall to her knees when I would pick up her front feet. After a few corrections she stoped doing it. Monday I started the day with working her feet. I started in her pasture and we had two small blow ups. I believe one was due to another pasture mate messing with her, so I did not get to mad at her. The second time was because she thought she could getaway with taking her foot away and trying to set back. After I corrected that we went up to where the round pens are and worked on feet some more. She did great. We moved on to working with the water bottle. I was able to lightly spray it over her back if I held the bottle over her back on the opposite side.

Tuesday was a fairly laid back day. I started with working with her feet. She did great. She tried to pull her feet from me but with a firm hand she eventually stopped. As I waited for a round pen to open up I continue to work with the spray bottle, I was able to get a few more sprays in on her back still only when I was able to hold it over her back on the opposite side. When I try to spray her from a more direct view she would not completely freak out but start trying to rush her away. Since the start of of our roundpen work she has greatly improved. She starting to pick up the lope with less and less pressure and keep it longer. She does somtimes think about jumping out but it is not as bad before and she is easier to stop her.

Thursday was a short day as we mainly just worked on making a sale video in the roundpen. Though Hepburn is not for sale I still needed to make one as assignment. She may not have gave the greatest preformance for the video as it took more pressure then normal for some gaits. But if she was perfect for a video that would be seen by an audience I would be worried.

Friday was honestly the best we have ever done in the roundpen. She got herself in trouble because she did not want to walk out the gate or walk at all, so I took her to the roundpen and made her work till she was tired. After roundpen work I started with the spray bottle. I notice that we were not getting anywhere and she was now just doing circles around me. I then asked my class mate to help me with keeping consent pressure of the bottle, while I tried to keep her steady and praise her when she stood still while being sprayed. We ended up doing many circles. I had to pull her down a few times when she though jumping up was a good idea. She eventually started to calm down slightly and was ok with the bottle just hanging around her, so I called it a day.

29/10/2022

Well, week 8 has been full of revelations and accomplishments.

We started off the week on Monday. We did fair in the round pen. We left Friday on a good note, but had a slight setback. We started out working on keeping the trot constant and respectful turns. After touching up on that I worked on picking up the lope. We were able to pick it up with a fair amount of pressure but would breakdown when I would release it. She did start showing signs of hitting her limit, as she started to become temperamental and stopped listening, so I had to call it a day. But what really made was my day was our progress with the spray bottle. As this was one of our least favorite things, I learned that by keeping her feet moving around me in a circle it allowed me to keep safe while I kept pressure with the spray bottle. I was able to get several consecutive sprays on her back. That was the most I have been able to spray her.

Tuesday was a ruff day. We had a practical that day, but it was not her day. She became fairly dead to cues and in order to turn her I had to just about get in her face. After the practical I tried to see if we could correct the issues but we ended up creating more problems and just made it more chaotic. So, I just had to settle down and have her do one or two things correctly then called it.

Friday was a good day. We started with the spray bottle before going to the round pen. Had the same system as Monday. By the time I called it I was able to spray her on her back with less and less reaction. I was also able to hold the spray bottle over her back and spray away from her. We then took to the round pen. We did not work long as she did good. She improved in picking up and keeping the lope, breakdown in gaits, and turning when asked. I called it when she stoped and settled with little force.

24/10/2022

Some days you take what they give you, and then use it for the next day as a buliding block or resetting place.

23/10/2022

As we complete week 7, I get to see more and more of the horse she could become.

Monday we waited for a smaller rounded pen to just make it easier on me to keep consistent pressure. Our main focus was to be able to calmly trot several rounds without stopping and with minimal pressure. We went through phases where we would do good and smooth then someone would walk by and then she no longer wanted to work. I worked and corrected her until we were able to calmly go around even as classmates hung around the pen.

Tuesday went similar to Monday. We continue to work on calmly trotting both ways in the round pen. But I wanted to try and see if I could get her to pick up a lope. I could get her to pick it up but it took a lot of pressure to do it and she would break back down to a trot every time I would release the pressure. Though that would have been easy to work with, I instead had to work a Hepburn that started to feel too pressured and started to act like she wanted to jump out the pen. I then started to slow down and make sure I was careful where my pressure was being placed. I called it a day when we were settled down and went around the pen without attempting to jump out.

Thursday started out good but when I would use more pressure to ask for such things as turning, we began attempting jumping out of the round pen. So I worked with stopping that and redirecting her focus from the outside to me and the center of the pen. This took a little bit to accomplish but we were able to get it down. I got her focus by getting her to to stop and turn towards the center. I did this by continuously stopping, turning, and making sure I was careful with my pressure.

Friday was a fairly good day as we picked up what we worked on the last few days really easily. I started Friday by doing what we have worked on, like trotting continuously with minimal whip pressure and voice cues, and turning into the center when asked to stop or turn. I was even able to get Hepburn to pick up a lope for a little bit. I think what kept the day from being a great day was when we hit her limit. I think we hit a limit because she started to get bratty going back to old habits, not wanting to listen, and kept heading back to the gate or trying to turn back there. So I had to work with her to find a happy point where she was not getting away with stuff but still find a point where I could call it good. I finally called it when I was able to get her to stop and stand there calmly. She would previously just turn away from me and go straight in to a trot the other direction when I did not ask her to.

15/10/2022

Week 6

Due to fall break we only were able to work with the horses for two days.

Thursday was a fairly good day as it was our first day working in a round pen. She did good for our first time. She respected my space and mainly worked on the edge on the round pen. She kept up a trot really well with me not needing to continuously put pressure. But as we were in one of the larger pens I had trouble keeping enough pressure to keep her at a lope.

Friday’s round penning brought a little bit of spice.
As we had some hardships in the larger round pen, I waited till a smaller one was available. We started out pretty well but as my other class mates started to hangout around the pen she started to turn around and stop. So I continued to correct her till she was able to calmly trot around without turning around or stoping.

15/10/2022

Hepburn showing off her leading skills.

08/10/2022

Hepburn’s and postal just hanging out on the bridge. If you want to check out pistal’s adventure check out Hollywood Cowtown - Pistol.

08/10/2022

Week 5 is down.
First week at the new barn. It went well she settle down good and worked great in the new environment.

Monday we started to prepare and finesse for our practical Thursday. Were we needed to walk from both sides, trot, stop/back, and pick up feet. She did good working on those. But because we were in a new arena with new obstacles,there were new thing to see and work with. She did great going over logs. She however did not like the bridge she tried sidestepping and backing up, with a little incourgement from the TA and other classmates we got her on it.

Tuesday we did the same thing as Monday but as it was the the second day doing it we were a lot smoother. We did however have an issue with the decorative branches laying around, but after messing around with them and trying to eat them we were ok with them.

Thursday is when we took our practical she did great. Our stop/ back up was great, we took a minute to pick up the trot, but did great.

Friday was break day for Hepburn. 

01/10/2022

Week 4

It was more of a relaxed week as we moved barns.

Monday was a good day. After a rough Friday of shoulder yielding and a long weekend, I was curious how much she remembered. To my surprise and giddiness she was really good and moved to little pressure on both sides. Since we were hoping to get her feet trimmed I worked on her feet being picked up and held like the shoer would.

Tuesday we mainly worked on being sprayed by the water hose. She was not afraid of the hose or water being sprayed away or slightly near her, but as soon as the mist touched her she would would start to throw a fit getting herself riled up. When I was able to get her to relax as the water was sprayed next to her, I called it a day.

Thursday we did not do much because we were moving other horses to a new barn. She was not moved during this trip, so I hung out with her to see what she allowed me to do with out the halter. I was able to pick up all four feet and I jumped around her to she how would react. She did not react, however, she mainly looked at me like something was wrong with me.

Friday is when we got moved to the new barn. It was the first time I got to load and unload her from a trailer. She did great, she loaded with little hesitation and unloaded while being very calm. After, we let her settle at the barn for the rest of the day. 

24/09/2022

Hello my name is Hepburn.

24/09/2022

Well week three has passed us. This week has me learning more and more. I have to Thank my classmates for helping me and giving me advice where I might be missing, especially when I am correcting my horse.

Monday started off good. We got her out of her pasture and walked up to the barn area. I may not have done much but I mainly wanted to see how she reacted to the new environment. We walked around going under shade, by stalls and over concrete. She was really level headed she did shy at a few things but over all good with the addition of new environment. She allowed me to pick up her feet and mess with her.

Tuesday I started out just seeing how she would do away from her pasture friend. She kept her head though she was a little herd bound. What we have the biggest problem with was when I brought in the spray bottle. We are not a fan of it. Took a few tantrums, but I was able to have Hepburn stand calmly while I spayed the bottle away from me.

Thursday Hepburn showed me where I lacked and let her get away with. I was trying to see if I could wash her off or at least get used to the pressure of the hose, but as I was doing that she started to really get in my bubble and push her shoulder into me. We then had to work on moving her shoulder over when asked and not to come back on top of me.

Friday was technically a continuation of Thursday with shoulder yeild. Thursday I was only really able to work on the left side, so that was the side I started on. After refreshing her on that side she started to pick it up fairly well, but when I moved on to the right side it was a lot harder. I tried to ask the same way that I did the other side, politely at first then sternly. We started to really bump heads. Then one of my classmates had me try physical pressure and try by using my thumb. She started to react to that form of pressure better than I was using at first. I called it a day when I was able to get her to cross over and away from me with her front calmly.

17/09/2022

We got an another week underfoot. I have to say over all we had a great week. We may have been mainly repetition and only got out of her pasture once but progress was shown and I get to see more and more of her personality.

Monday was a ruff day. We started off good but you can tell that it was not Hepburn’s day. We worked on our leading, being touched everywhere, yielding at the hip and picking up all four feet. She did good with everything only struggle a little with her back feet. But what really set us back was when we brought in the spray bottle. She did not like it so after some trials with it we had to give it a break and do something else and called it a day.

Tuesday was was a good day. We mainly just worked on the same things as the day before. She got the hang of hip yeilding I don’t have to use as much pressure as I did before. We also found out that we don’t like to be scolded. She has not been really aggressive or mean when working with her feet, though she has been unsure about her feet being messed with but not stupid. But today she showed more dislike to me messing with one of her hind foot, so I made her ingage her hind in. She picked up that I was getting upset with her, so after I corrected her she placed her head in my lap and then let me mess with her hind foot.

Thursday was a shorter day but still productive as we just worked with feet, hip yielding, and pressure and release. What made me really happy, when I went to catch her she actually walk towards me. It may have just been two steps but it ment that she was dropping her defensive wall. And when I released her she chose to follow me for a few yards.

Friday I decided to walk her out of her pasture. Though we may not have gone a long distance it was a different environment, we were also have other horses running up to the fence, other people working with horses. I took the chance to pick up her feet, walk around her and just had her stand still and settle. She did really well for the outside stimuli.

Thank you all for reading my posts.
Hope y’all have a good rest of your day.

15/09/2022

Thank you Texas A&M Horse Training Class for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow.

Meet Bree and Hepburn:

"My name is Bree Vitek and I’m a sophomore animal science major. I grew up horseback working at ranches gathering cattle with my grandfather, competing at rodeos, barrel races, working ranch horse challenges and carrying flags at my local riding club. I plan to have a career path majoring in the equine field, be it a vet, physical therapy, or even horse training. I’m still narrowing down my choices. I look forward to seeing both my partner’s and my progress and growth, as we both learn and develop together. And also to be able to see our work when looking back at the semester."

Hepburn is a 2021 filly (Smokinghot Hollywood x Stylish Shiney Lena), she will not be available for sale.

10/09/2022

Welcome to my weekly blog. As The semester continues for my horse training class at Texas A&M, you will get to see the growth and inevitable set backs of Hepburn and mine’s training.

This week we were just assigned our horse partners and got to work with them for two days. Since we are mainly just starting to get to know each other I just worked on seeing what stuff we got to work on such as boundaries, picking up feet, leading, and yielding to pressure. For having minimal handling she was very willing to try. I was able to pick up all 4 feet and picked out the front feet and she also gotten better at yielding at the hip though we still have to work on it. I look forward to next week and what we will accomplish.