Training the Unwanted

General – 08/21/10

2010-08-21T18:09:00.001-04:00

This blog has been moved! You can find all the posts at:

http://www.horsehavenhollow.org/category/training-the-unwanted

Milo – 06/25/10

2010-06-30T17:44:00.001-04:00

Good old Milo. His first session had absolutely nothing to do with training. It was just merely entertaining. For me, at least.

Renee tried longing him, but he knew he was bigger, stronger, and more patient than Renee. She could chase him around all she wanted, he really had no interest in working. She did get him to trot once or twice, but you could tell that he was scheming the whole time and trying to come up with a way to get out of work. Typical pony!

It was really hot and humid that day, Renee had just been thrown into the fence by Mick, and I was running out of time and needed to leave soon.

I think Milo sensed that we weren’t really in the game and took the opportunity to yank Renee off balance, push the gate open with his chest… and leave.

That’s where the entertainment part came in. :)

Mick – 06/25/10

2010-06-30T17:31:00.001-04:00

Last time Renee was out I decided it was time to get started with Mick and Milo. I wanted to see how she did with complete greenies so that I can turn her loose on her own and not feel like I have to be standing there watching all the time. That theory went down the drain when we saw how well Mick did.

He longed like he’d done it a hundred times before. Not like he’d done it correctly, but like he’d been run in circles for hours on end by some idiot or another. He didn’t understand WHOA or WALK, but he knew perfectly well what a circle was and was content to do a nice steady trot forever.

Which made us wonder… hmmm.. he’s three, he’s been here for about 8 months… maybe he was broke as a two year old? So Renee stopped him and put the saddle on him. He didn’t care at all. He acted like he’d been saddled all his life. He stood perfectly still while she cinched him up, then stood still again while she stood on the mounting block and leaned over him. He was just as good about taking the bridle and barely chewed on the bit at all.

Combine that behavior with the small white spot on top of his withers, indicating an old sore from ill-fitting tack, and we thought for sure he’d been broke already. Renee mounted up, eased into the saddle, and Mick stood there while she adjusted her seat and got her feet in the stirrups. We were all smiles and congratulating ourselves on having yet another broke horse when Mick decided to take a couple of steps.

Once he started moving and felt this weight on his back moving with him, he exploded into a bucking whirlwind and sent Renee into the fence seconds later. Then he tore around the ring like his tail was on fire, almost ran me over, tried crashing through the fence in several spots, and terrified poor Milo who was tied to the outside of the round pen patiently awaiting his turn.

We let him run himself out, then caught him and waited for him to calm down. We walked him around the ring a few times, then back over to the mounting block. We had to end on a good note, and his bucking frenzy was definitely NOT a good note! Renee just stood on the block while I held him, patted the saddle, and leaned on him just a bit. He did fine and was relaxed again, so we untacked him and let him go.

Next time, back to square one! But at least now we know for sure what we’re dealing with. :)

Jasmine – 06/30/10

2010-06-30T17:15:00.001-04:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve done anything with Jas thanks to everything going on around here this past month. It was a beautiful day today and I found myself with some spare time, so figured why not?

I’ve longed her a few times since my last post, just to work more on forward motion instead of the lazy western jog she seems to like so much. Today I introduced her to the saddle.

She quickly realized it was just another way for her to behave and get rewarded. As I was putting on the saddle, she took a few nervous steps forward, but then stopped and craned her head around to me for comfort. I scratched her head and let her know it was ok, then she stood still for me to adjust the saddle and tighten the girth. I never cinch up a girth all the way on the first try, especially with greenies. I put it up snug enough so it wouldn’t slide off, then walked her around the pen once. Tighten another couple of holes, walk around the pen. She took all of this in stride and the stirrups hitting her sides never phased her.

Once the girth was tight, I sent her out on the line to walk and trot. She’s still very lazy, but at least she’s trotting now instead of shuffling! I smacked the saddle, shifted it from side to side, and put a little weight in the stirrup – she just looked around to see what I was doing.

Next time I’ll introduce the bridle and do some long lining. Hopefully, I’ll have her ready by the time the next person comes out to visit. I don’t want to try getting on her with no one around to direct in the paramedics. :)

Jewel – 06/25/10

2010-06-25T19:56:00.001-04:00

It’s always a guessing game when these rescues show up with no history: broke or not? With Cinnamon and Jewel, we assumed they weren’t broke because of how skittish and shy they were. We couldn’t have been further from the truth with Cinnamon, who turned out to be a well-broke mare once she learned to trust us. It turned out that she was skittish and nervous because she was broke to ride and had had very bad experiences. After that learning experience, I began re-thinking the Jewel situation.

I was told that she had been a bucking bronco when the trainer tried to ride her at the previous rescue. After that, they couldn’t even get a halter on her. She had a serious injury to her chest that went all the way past her girth area, and looked like she had almost lost her front right leg. It was healed when I got her, but I could still feel scar tissue in places, and you can still see where she’s missing flesh in her chest.

There were a couple of things that I could guess from all of that:

1) she could still have pain in that area when girthed up, or she was ridden before completely healed and is expecting pain when ridden.

2) she has serious trust issues, probably from being ridden/worked through the pain, or from the tending of the wound itself.

3) she could have initially sustained the injury while under saddle

Renee came out Tuesday and just worked with getting a saddle on Jewel. She was able to get it on her back, but not girth it. Every time she’d move around to the off side, Jewel would panic. So she just walked her around the round pen a few times while holding on to the saddle. Jewel relaxed and we stopped, removed the saddle, and turned her loose.

Today, getting the saddle on was much easier, and Renee was able to get her girthed up as well. The girth didn’t seem to bother her, even when cinched up as tight as we could get it. She was also ok with Renee being on her off side. Getting the bridle on was a bit iffy, because Jewel has always been head shy since coming here. It’s obvious she’s been either beaten about the face or ear-twitched. It took some time and patience, but Renee got the bridle on. Then she walked Jewel around the pen a few times and she was relaxed and not bothered by anything, including Renee putting weight in one of the stirrups with her hands.

But as soon as Renee put a foot in the stirrup (no weight, just foot), Jewel exploded into a bucking frenzy! That mare knew what was coming and wasn’t going to have any of it! At first we thought maybe the girth was pulling on her old injury, but we could hang off the side of the saddle and she was fine. It was just when Renee put a foot in the stirrup as if to mount, that Jewel exploded.

I walked her over to the fence and told Renee to climb the fence from the outside and see if she could slide over instead…

Jewel stood still. Perfectly still.

Renee didn’t touch the reins and kept her legs off while I lead Jewel around the pen. Halfway around the first time, Jewel dropped her head, licked her lips, and gave a big sigh. You could feel the tension drain out of her as she figured out that this wasn’t painful!

After just a few spins around the pen, I lead her over to the fence so Renee could dismount the same way she got on. Jewel stood still. Again. We took the saddle and bridle off, gave her some praise, and turned her loose. Instead of taking off for the barn, like I thought she would, she just moseyed down the hill at a leisurely walk… like she was content with her place in the world at last. :)

Maverick – 6/22/10

2010-06-22T15:13:00.001-04:00

Today was all about getting Maverick out of the round pen. This is only his third ride so we didn’t ask too much of him. After a few minutes in the round pen, and Renee announcing that he had the steering thing down pat, I opened the gate and she took him out into the pasture. The other horses were still locked in their standing stalls eating breakfast, so he was out there all by his lonesome.

No, of course he didn’t care. Need you ask?

He did manage to pull one of his brand new shoes, though. I’ll be sure not to let Brannon live that one down any time soon.

Next time, I’ll hop on a horse and we’ll take the happy little guy out on a real trail ride!

Maverick – 06/04/10

2010-06-04T16:32:00.001-04:00

Are you tired of reading how amazing this pony is? If so, you may want to go to another website now.

Today was Maverick’s second ride, and his first ride with a bit and saddle. The bit was a rubber-coated full-cheek snaffle and the saddle was a leather 15” seat western. The girl, Renee, who rode him had brought her own saddle and breast collar, and even though the breast collar was too large, we put it on him anyway. Might as well get him used to something like that… not that he even noticed it.

Mav took a few minutes to chew on the bit and wonder what it was in his mouth, then he got over it. He learned to steer within minutes and WHOA was not a problem.

Renee said he moved away from her leg like he should, but sometimes getting him going took some mild kicking or some encouragement from me. He acted like he’d been ridden 20 times before. At one point, Renee looked over at me and said “I wonder if he backs”. She was joking, but she tried it anyway…

It wasn’t just a fluke. He backed for her three or four times. Just a couple of steps, but still better than half the horses on this place that came to me already “trained”!

When we were done, Renee decided to get a little funky and see if anything could get Mav riled up. He’s going to be a kid’s pony, and kids do some silly stuff sometimes, so it’s best that he’s prepared for that.

Is it just me, or does he look bored? She did a 360 on the saddle and he never moved a muscle. She slid off the right side, then remounted on the right side. She leaned forward and rubbed her legs all over his sides and stomach. He never moved.

We ended with that, after only about 15 minutes of saddle time. Renee is coming out again, and I think this time we’ll go for a short “trail ride” just over into the neighbor’s pasture. I can’t wait!!!

Thunder – 5/21/10

2010-05-21T15:44:00.001-04:00

When Thunder arrived here he was scrawny, covered in hardened mud, and recently castrated. He was hot wired from being confined to a stall for a few weeks, but was supposed to be a well-broke trail horse. I don’t know about the “well” part of being broke, but he’s definitely been ridden before.

He was laid back to the point of being lazy. It took some pretty good whacks on the butt with the longe whip to get him to move. Once he got going, he did much better and just moved off Maggie’s leg.

He also acted like he couldn’t figure out the bitless bridle. The power steering was certainly not working today, but with a little more work he should progress quickly.

Maggie said his trot was wonderfully smooth and I could tell it was very easy to sit. I can’t wait to get on him later next month and see what he knows!

Cinnamon – 5/21/10

2010-05-21T15:34:00.001-04:00

When I took in Cinnamon she was terrified when her owners had tried putting a saddle on her. They were told she was broke when they got her, but it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t. She knew nothing about ground work and had very little interest in people in general. She was skittish and difficult to catch.

Since coming here I’ve done nothing but feed and groom her. She was pretty good for the farrier on the front feet, but horrible on the back. She doesn’t even like her back legs touched, so we’ve been working on that now and again. She’s much easier to catch now, and sometimes even allows me to catch her in the field even if I don’t come armed with cookies. Her overall attitude has taken a major turn for the better and she seems much more relaxed and at ease with humans.

Maggie was here today, dressed to ride, and feeling pretty confident after the first Maverick ride. I joked with her and said if she wanted a challenge after Maverick, to try riding Cinnamon.

It was obvious that Cinnamon was just waiting for something to hurt. When the girth got too tight her eyes widened and she danced around. When it came time to put on the bitless bridle, we could tell she was expecting some big shank bit and curb strap – which got us both thinking that maybe she really was broke to ride.

I gave Maggie a leg up since Cinnamon would not get close enough to the fence around Maggie – she knew what was up! It was so obvious that this poor little mare has not had a good experience with people in such a long time.

But once Maggie was on board, Cinnamon was fine. She knew her job. She knew her leg cues, had good brakes, and stayed relaxed throughout.

Maggie only rode her for a few minutes at the walk. Just enough for Cinnamon to understand that she’s not going to be pushed too hard or hurt every time she’s ridden, and going for a ride can actually be a good experience.

After the June event, I’ll put some saddle time on her and see what she knows. Maybe even go for a trail ride or two. :)

Maverick – 5/20/10

2010-05-21T15:13:00.001-04:00

Maggie came up today to get on Maverick for me since she’s a very good rider and also very thin (I hate her). She brought her bareback pad and bitless bridle with her, and her really sexy leopard print hard hat. Maverick thought it was a big edible cookie.

We didn’t even longe Maverick first. He was his typical easy going, laid back self and Maggie felt confident just hopping on. Since my mounting block has gone missing (I’m wondering which horse was smart enough to cart it off and hide it in the woods), I just put Maverick next to the fence and Maggie slid on from there. Maverick had about 5 seconds of fast walking while the “my goodness, there’s something on my back” surprise wore off. Then, it was business as usual.

It was difficult for me to get pictures of him because he really just wanted to follow me (and the cookies) around the round pen.

Today was just about having someone on his back. Maggie didn’t use her leg at all and the reins stayed slack the whole time.

He did trot a few steps while I ran ahead and Maggie said he has a nice comfortable trot.

She could also feel him trying to keep her centered and balanced up there. He quickly figured out that it was more comfortable for him if she were comfortable.

I really can’t tell you how proud I am of my baby boy! I knew he’d be easy, but I am amazed daily at how willing to please he’s become. I am really going to miss him!

Maverick – 04/03/10

2010-04-03T15:53:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, I have been impatiently waiting to start this pony’s training. He’s proven himself to be incredibly smart and willing to please, so I knew he’d be super easy to train.

He never screamed or got nervous when I took him away from the herd. He remained calm and curious throughout, only wanting to know what the next step was. Walk on a circle? Got it. Trot when you cluck? Got that too. It took him two tries to figure out Whoa.

I had the saddle at the pen from when I had Molly up there earlier, so I thought, why the heck not? Let’s see how it fits…

I slung it up there without even holding on to him. He just stood there, of course. That’s a 17” seat and it’s just a bit too large. Chunky Butt is also still growing! His butt is taller than his withers again. All the youngsters are going through growth spurts right now, but I didn’t think Maverick had another big spurt in him.

I cinched the girth up, but not too tight. Just tight enough to keep the saddle on if he decided to go crazy. He walked and trotted, stirrups clunking him in the side, and the saddle didn’t even phase him. After only a few minutes I had him stop, took off the saddle, brushed him down, then let him go back to the herd.

Next time we’ll see how he does with the bit in his mouth and maybe do some long lining.

Jewel – 04/02/10

2010-04-02T17:16:00.001-04:00

It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything with Jewel. But over the winter she’s gotten to be quite the attention hound, seeking me out in the pasture for a scratch. She’s become easy to halter and has calmed down A LOT.

All that changed today. *sigh*

She was fine to halter and lead up to the round pen. As soon as I turned her loose in the pen and asked her to “walk on”, it was all down hill from there. I never even touched her with the whip and it was not necessary to chase her around the pen to make her trot. All I did was stay in line with her hip and push her forward with body language. Apparently, what I thought said “move forward” meant “I’m going to catch, kill, and eat you” to her. While she didn’t explode and she kept a steady pace the whole time, there was no way in hell she was letting me near her after a whoa. Nope, sorry Charlie. Not even with treats.

She got worked for well over an hour. I was hoping exhaustion would bring her to her senses, but even though the sweat was flowing, she was not going to give in. I eventually let her go, but she didn’t want to go. She knew I had treats, she just didn’t want to come to me to get them. But maybe, just maybe, I’ll throw some on the ground in front her? No way!

I know I’ll be able to get my hands on her tonight at dinner when she goes into her standing stall, so all is not lost. Lesson learned, next time I keep the longe line on her in the round pen. Eventually, she’ll learn that allowing me near her means rest from work and a good scratch behind the ears (her favorite place). But today was definitely put down as a waste of time and a step backwards for Jewel.

Jasmine – 04/02/10

2010-04-02T16:54:00.001-04:00

When Jasmine got here last May, she had a month old colt and a yearling colt both suckling on her. She was not halter broke and did not see the need in letting humans touch her unless she had her head in a bucket of feed. Both boys have been weaned for some time now, so Jasmine’s training started today (thanks to Mother Nature for drying out my round pen)!

All winter, Jaz has been getting friendlier by the day, even though I haven’t put much effort into her, except to worm, feed, and play with her feet. She enjoys being groomed and will stand quietly, sans halter, while I scratch all of her itchies for her. She’s still a little jumpy if I move too quickly, but she doesn’t go far.

Today was her first day in the round pen and my main objective was to teach walk and whoa, and get her used to the longe whip. The longe whip was easy. She quickly figured out that it was just another way for me to scratch the itchies. Walk and whoa were also very easy, almost making me think that she’s had a little training at some point in her past. But I think the whoa was just her saying “yup, I can come to a stop and not exert any more energy. No problem!”

In other words, she’s a bit on the lazy side. When I first asked for a trot, I had to actually tap her on the butt with the whip a few times. Rather than explode, she slowly ambled her way up to a jog. Barely.

I only did a few minutes in each direction, but in the end she had the idea. Whoa means stop and stand. Maybe look at the silly human to see if she’s got a treat. Otherwise, go forward. Right. Got it. Is it dinner time yet?

I have a feeling Jaz is going to be a very easy horse to train!

General – 03/08/10

2010-03-08T21:05:00.001-05:00

What a winter! I’m so ready for Spring and warm weather so I can start getting these guys worked. Here’s a list of what’s going to happen this Spring, hopefully.

Molly needs to be evaluated to make sure she really is broke to ride, as I was told. Flo also needs to be evaluated for soundness under saddle and suitability.

All my three year olds need to be started under saddle, including Mick, Milo, and Maverick. I think I’d like to teach Maverick to drive before putting him under saddle since he’s so small. I may have a tiny little teenaged rider that may come out this summer to help me with the dwarfs, so keep your fingers crossed!

Sassy the mule is still untouchable. I’ve done nothing with her this winter, other than just try to give her treats and get her over her fear and mistrust of humans. She seems to be calming down a bit, but is still not halter broke. I’ll do some reading up on mule training and get her started this Spring.

Miles is in the same boat. I’ve not done anything with him since he arrived last summer, due to all the other horses coming and going around here. Once my round pen dries up a bit I’ll lure him in there and hopefully have him halter broke in the first session. He doesn’t seem to be very fearful, just unsure of me. Once he figures out that I’m not out to eat him, he should be fairly easy to get going under saddle.

Jasmine is halter broke and it shouldn’t take much time to have her going well under saddle. Like both her sons, she’s very laid back and easy going about everything.

Cinnamon is an 8yo chestnut Arabian mare who has recently arrived here on the farm, along with the return of Genesis. Cinnamon is flighty and difficult to halter, but once you have her, she’s a very sweet little mare.

There are two more horses coming on Wednesday and I’m told that they are dangerous. The man that rescued them from a bad situation has had a couple of incidents with them in just a few weeks, one of which sent him to the emergency room for stitches in his forehead. Yikes! He tells me the healthier they get, the wilder they get. Should be fun. I just hope they don’t put me in the hospital – I have too much to do!

Last, but not least, I’m finally going to get around to Jewel. Giving her so much time off has seemed to really help her attitude towards life. She’s actually become an attention hound in the pasture and will seek me out any time I’m mingling with the herd. She has calmed down quite a bit, and is no longer the nervous, flighty little mare that first arrived here. I’m really looking forward to getting her under saddle and out on her first trail ride!

Cheyenne – 10/11/09

2009-10-11T22:11:00.001-04:00

Cheyenne has been doing pretty well. She was a lot like Apache when I first got on her – she didn’t care and couldn’t be bothered to react to the extra weight on her back. I had ridden her twice before last weekend, and both times she was incredibly lazy and it was difficult to get her moving forward. So last weekend when Jamie came out to do some work, I put her on Cheyenne while I supplemented her leg with the lunge whip. We worked with her in the round pen for about 20 minutes, then I hopped on Willow to pony her around the pasture for a bit. She has no problem with Whoa, in fact that seems to be her favorite part. Oh, I can stop working? Cool!

I’ve ridden her twice since, and she’s gotten a bit better about reacting to leg. I wanted to get her out on the trails this weekend with someone else in the lead, but there were too many other things going on and it just never happened. She’s pretty good about mud puddles, so I’m hoping a trail ride that takes us through a small stream will just be a simple extension of our pasture ride. Maybe next weekend? Hopefully!

General – 09/19/09

2009-09-19T15:51:00.001-04:00

I must apologize profusely for the lack of updates to the training blog. I guess I feel woefully inadequate next to the great training bloggers, like Mugwump, that I’ve just been quietly doing my thing and hoping no one asks for details. :)

To catch everyone up, here’s a summary of what little training has been going on this summer. I’m hoping to get a lot more done now that I’ve got a round pen for ground work. I can’t wait to get going with Miles and Jasmine, but Jasmine’s training has to wait until Sky is weaned in a couple of weeks.

Miles is the unhandled 9yo BLM mustang that arrived with Beauty and TMan. I have done no work with him yet, and he still only allows me within 10 feet of him before he gets nervous and moves away. Once Jasmine and Jewel are going well under saddle, I’ll start with getting Miles lured into the round pen for dinner and get him comfortable in there, then get him halter broke and go from there. That should be fun!

Cheyenne is just about ready to go to her new home. I spent a few weeks just ground driving her and getting her used to the rubber full cheek snaffle, and understanding whoa. I’ve gotten on her twice this week and she’s done very well. I’ve stayed in the round pen since I was alone at the time, but hopefully one of my volunteers will come out tomorrow and I can get her out for a short trail ride. I’d like to get her out at least a few times with success before I give the adopters a call to come and get her. She’s such a sweet mare, and so willing to please, that I doubt I’ll have much trouble with her out on trail. Especially if she has the wise and unspookable Willow to follow!

Kisses has been doing really well! Her only problem is that she’s incredibly lazy in the round pen. She just doesn’t see the need to do any work, when snuggling up with me and being scratched behind the ears is way more fun. I just started doing ground work with her last weekend and would like to put a bit in her mouth and start ground driving her tomorrow. I should be on her next weekend and headed out on trail with her shortly after.

Jewel and Classy have been put on the back burner this year due to all the new unhandled horses coming in and needing work. I’m hoping with my new volunteer that comes out weekly, we can start taking Classy out on trail rides and get more mileage on her and teach her that the bit is not something to fear. Oh, how I would love to train all these greenies with a bitless bridle, but how many adopters do I really think will buy and use a bitless? So I have to be realistic and train them all to a snaffle, whether we like it or not.

Maverick… oh how I love that pony. He’s going to be three years old soon, so I guess it’s time I started his training. He’ll be learning to drive first, so it looks like I need to start shopping around for a training cart!

Cheyenne –- 07/20/09

2009-07-20T21:09:00.001-04:00

I worked mostly with tacking and untacking Cheyenne tonight. She’s not afraid of the saddle, but she was nervous about the whole situation and wasn’t very tickled about the idea of having something on her back. She danced around a bit the first time, even though I barely had the girth tight enough for her to feel it. Once she was standing quietly with the saddle on, I’d take it off and walk her around a bit. Back to the saddle, put it on again and if she stood quietly I’d tighten it up a little more than the last time. Walk her around, take the saddle off. We kept doing this until the girth was as tight as it needed to be and she was still accepting it graciously and without tap dancing on my toes. I just walked her around the pasture with the saddle on the last time, then back to our starting place to untack and end the session. I didn’t want her to associate the saddle with work just yet, since she had such a hard time accepting it in the first place. We’ll see how she is next time!

Apache –- 07/20/09

2009-07-20T21:04:00.001-04:00

Since I saddled Apache last time without problem, I went ahead and longed him with the saddle tonight. I only longed him for a few minutes, just to make sure he still remembered WHOA. Then I put a bridle with a full cheek snaffle bit on him, got a second longe line, ran both longe lines thru the D-rings on the front of the synthetic western saddle and did some ground driving with him. He chewed on the bit for a few minutes, then settled down into his job. He quickly learned that a light tug on the bit along with a spoken WHOA meant for him to come to a stop. He didn’t move off again until I asked with a “Walk on!” and a cluck.

It took him a few tries to understand what I wanted when I asked him to turn, but picked that up pretty quickly. I like using a full cheek snaffle on youngsters because when you pull on one side, the full cheek part of the bit presses against their face on the other side, helping them to move their head away from the pressure, which usually means their feet follow their head and you have a successful turn. We did circles and figure eights at the walk, with lots of stopping and standing patiently until asked to move on again. He was quite the student!

I think one more ground driving session and he’ll be ready to be ridden. I’d like to find someone smaller than me that knows how to ride to get on him first, but it’s not looking like that’s going to be an option any time soon. I have smaller people lined up to ride him once he’s got a few rides under him, so at least he’ll only have to put up with me for a little while. :)

Ellie –- 07/20/09

2009-07-20T20:53:00.001-04:00

What a smart pony! I hate to admit it, but I’m afraid this mare is smarter than me. It was obvious from the start that she had never been longed before. I have a feeling her previous “training” was being dressed in a harness, hooked to something heavy, and whipped till she pulled it. She was terrified of the longe whip in the beginning, so I spent some time just rubbing her all over with it and talking quietly to her. Within a few minutes she was standing quietly with lids drooping while I was rubbing the whip all over her back, rump, and legs. Gee, that was easy.

She didn’t understand at first what I wanted when I asked her to walk off without me, but picked it up very quickly! I made sure to keep my body in line with her hip and the whip behind her when I wanted forward motion and she had the idea in no time. Once I had her out on the circle and walking calmly, I moved my body to put it in line with her shoulder, moved the whip to my other hand and put it in front of her line of sight, but not in front of her body. I accompanied that with a WHOA and the little mare stopped. In her tracks. And stood there. Quietly. I praised her up and down, then changed directions and did the same thing. She performed flawlessly.

I stopped there since she did so well. Next time we’ll work on trotting on the longe and doing walk/trot transitions.

Ellie – 07/18/09

2009-07-18T17:48:00.001-04:00

Ellie was used as a “pulling pony” before she came here, but I’d like to turn her into a kid’s pony for at least trail riding, maybe more. I can just picture her popping over little jumps with her wild mane braided with red ribbons. :)

Ellie had a heart murmur when she got here, but it was unclear at the time if it was just because she was emaciated or if it were a more permanent problem. I completely forgot to have Doc check for it the last time he was out, but will have him check the next time. For now, I’m just going to keep things slow with her and stick to longing, voice commands, ground driving, and sacking out so that she’s ready for whatever a little kid will throw at her. I hope to get started with her training this coming week so check back soon!

Apache -– 07/16/09

2009-07-16T23:14:00.001-04:00

Apache has turned out to be a very friendly little mustang! It’s obvious that his previous owner cared for him and spent a lot of time with him. He’s great about picking up his feet, stands tied, and longes fairly well. He did so well today that I put a saddle on him and cinched him up. I stood on my mounting log so I’d be above him, put weight in the stirrup, laid across his back and patted him all over, and shifted the saddle around and made a bunch of noise over him. He really couldn’t have cared less about any of it.

Next time I’ll put a bridle and snaffle bit on him and line drive to make sure he understands the bit. After that, it’s just a matter of hopping on and getting his under saddle training going. He’s going to make some little kid a heck of a good horse!

Cheyenne –- 07/16/09

2009-07-16T23:09:00.001-04:00

When Cheyenne and Apache first got here they were skittish and jumpy and didn’t let me come very close. Now that they’ve had a chance to settle in and make some friends, their personalities are starting to show and they’re both sweet little pocket ponies!

I was told by their previous owner that they had both had ground work done already. Cheyenne is very good about picking up her feet, leading, and standing tied. However, I put her on the longe line and she acted like she’d never walked a circle before. So I spent most my 20 minutes with her just teaching her to WALK and WHOA on command, and to not stop on the gate side of the circle. She was doing pretty well by the end of the session so hopefully we can do some trotting and transitions next time.

Genesis – 07/06/09

2009-07-06T15:59:00.001-04:00

Since the last post, Genesis has been a fairly busy girl. It was a big surprise to her to get the idea that she was being asked to work. WORK??? What is that? She thinks her job is to be adored and petted.

She learned the rudiments of lunging. I think she was very interested in it once we got her to quit eating long enough to lunge.

She got towel training with the help of Morgan, my riding student. If you are interested in a description of this, you can look back at Hunter's posts for it. By the time we were done, she had the towel flying through the air landing on her head and she never spooked. Granted, she was curious and thought we were nuts, but not spooked. We tightened the towel around her to simulate girths and she was not sure if we were asking her to go forward or what, but she got the swing of this too.

Last year, I bought a tiny saddle for tiny cowboys and cowgirls. It is very light. Genesis got to examine this and had it all over her. She easily adapted to the saddle being swung around and being saddled. That little saddle is well worth the money.

Bit training got worked in. The nice rescue lady had a rubber one for me to use. I used the trick of smearing apricot jam on the bit. After Genesis sucked the jam off, she mouthed the bit, which I had tied to her halter. She got used to that right away, too and stopped mouthing. I hope the young lady that has adopted her has a bridle that fits her that she can be trained in. Genesis has such a tiny head, I have nothing that fits her.

I decided that as cute as she is, Genesis has a few flaws (as do we all) that could be camouflaged with a clever haircut and she has some nice features that can be emphasized as well. She may end up being shown by the adopter, so why not teach her to clip? Scissors were used as I don't have electric clippers at this time. Bridle path was a decision. Western, English or what? I finally decide to cut back to show the delicacy of her throat, but not the thinness of her neck. We hope her neck will fill out as she muscles up. The bridle path now displays a darling white marking that crosses the mane. I pulled out her 'eye whiskers' to minimize some extra folds around the lids. That cutened her up a lot. Ears got a show pony cut. She has really pretty ears. She did object a little to the ears, but did fine for what I am sure was her first cut. I will have to try the legs another time.

Then the big news. She got ridden by my great nephews. Ok, she was sat on by the little cowboys, not ridden. But they were up. She was great. I had bbq in the horse pasture for the 4th and she stayed tied down by the party for a long time when not being ridden or fawned over. A couple of balks while she was being led, but I think that was because a niece of mine was turning to face Genesis and inadvertently cued her to stop. Genesis was quite the party girl! There are pics and they will be coming soon.

-- Anastasia

Genesis – 06/29/09

2009-06-30T11:16:00.001-04:00

Since the last post, Genisis has pretty much been on an eating-themed vacation. She likes to eat with her muzzle right up to Joma or Joe. Even Keisha tolerates her, and Keisha hates everyone. Genisis is looking good and life on the farm is agreeing with her.

I mess with her in the field, but there is no need to teach her how to be petted, fed treats and generally loved up. She halters well, she leads well, she handles well. She allows me to grab her mane and jump up and down like I might mount. She lets me work with her tail, play with her mouth, clean between her teats; all the while, she casts her dreamy look at me. She doesn't care about the weedeater, the truck, the tractor, the gun. Nothing seems to faze her.

She has skipped an entire grade or two, here! I will have to start lunging her to see how she does. After that I just have to saddle her up and teach her to pony, but I will bet that will be a cinch as well. I have talked to my nephew to bring out his two tiny little cowboys soon for her.

-- Anastasia

Genesis – 06/22/09

2009-06-26T12:18:00.002-04:00

Genesis arrived Saturday. The nice rescue lady showed me how nicely she does on getting her feet cared for. She did great. She met Joma, our Thoroughbred gelding and flashed him doe eyes. Come to think of it, she flashes everyone doe eyes. It is endearing. But apparently you have to be up close enough to Joma for him to see those eyes, because he chased her away from the little herd the rest of the evening.

The next day, they were grazing nose to nose. No surprise there. And they stayed that way all day. I decided to let her have the day to settle...although she did not seem to have any trouble at it. Joe, the old Appaloosa, is suspicious of her and keeps himself between Genesis and Keisha, the Evil Boss Mare.

Monday morning, Joe and Genesis are grazing nose to nose. I guess the only one who doesn't succumb to that doe-eyed gaze is Keisha.

Since everyone is apparently OK with everyone else, I decide to start up her training. I noticed she had a little diarrhea - probably stress and strange pasture. Sometimes this will happen to a horse and then they are just fine within a day or two. She seems fine and frisky and I am sure it goes away with no ill effects. We tied her to a post and left her to observe if she was trained for this. She pulled some, but gave up soon. Then on to bath time. She was jerking her head when she heard the hose sputter, but no freak-outs. We started by wet hooves and moved up by stages, ensuring no acrobatics got started. All in all she did OK.

Later that day, we took her out again and lead her up to a little wagon. She caught on quickly that I wanted her to stay close to it. After draping my arms over her back, it was clear she actually liked that. Then Donnie, my weedeating kid who is taking lessons, stood in the wagon so that he would be suddenly tall...way taller than her. I have had horses get spooked about the first time they see a human be as high as they would on their back, but she did fine. Donnie draped himself over her while standing in the wagon. He bore a little bit weight on her and waved his arms around. Nope, no problem. I'll bet she can saddle right up. I want work her up slowly to more and more weight, but she can take the saddle now, if she is up to it. Then I will pony her around with saddle so she can be ready for a little kid. Donnie is too heavy right now, as he weighs 140. Luckily, I have some little nieces and nephews.

Later, Donnie was riding Joe and Genesis kept getting underfoot. It looks like she will be trained to be a pack pony soon, since following around a rider is something she wants to do. We will see how it goes.

-- Anastasia

General -- 06/17/09

2009-06-17T07:50:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts here these days! Things have been so hectic around here with putting up new fence and trying to keep up with the day to day things on my own that I haven't had much chance to work with anybody. I have spent some time with the munchkins, just trying to get them halter broke and leading well. Jasmine is finally wearing a halter, but she doesn't know how to lead! It's always fun trying to get a skittish 1000 pound horse to lead without an enclosed area (like a round pen) and by yourself! But she's slowly coming around and finding out that what I'm asking isn't going to hurt her. Marbles and Maggie are leading pretty well now, but they are still not easily caught. They haven't figured out about treats and carrots yet, so the only reward they appreciate is a good scratching. They're getting better about having their feet messed with, so hopefully I can get those awful hooves trimmed soon.

Abbi has a hairline fracture on her left front that Doc says is almost calcified, so her training should begin in the next couple of weeks. Genesis leaves for Anastasia's pony training this weekend, then it's on to her new home when she's ready.

Gentry has improved when it comes to taking the bit and the terrible head tossing that he was doing. I haven't done anything special except to make the bit just something in his mouth, rather than something that causes pain. Soft hands and a plain snaffle did wonders for this guy! I put some beginners on him last week on the lunge line and he was awesome!

Frisky seems to be a fairly well-broke mare. She did test me when I first rode her and didn't want to go where I was pointing her, or even move forward when I asked. But she's the type of mare that shows her stubbornness by stopping and growing roots, not by bucking, rearing, or taking off. After 10 minutes or so, she finally gave in and decided that doing as I asked was a lot easier than doing what she wanted (which was head back to the gate and her little heard of dwarfs). After that, she was great! She has a very comfortable little western jog, but her canter is a bit spastic. I had heard rumors that her previous owners had done nothing but gallop down the trails, leaving their horses rode hard and put away wet. So when I asked for a canter, I got a "OMG, I have to RUN!!" reaction. The calm demeanor went away and she was off like a Thoroughbred out of the gate! Quiet legs and seat, half halts, and low-key 'whoa's and she finally settled into a fairly nice canter. As soon as she quieted I asked her to halt, got off, loosened the girth, and put her away.

I've been ignoring Jewel's training for now. One of the summer projects is to build a round pen and that's what I'm going to need with Jewel. She's going to take a lot of work and patience and I feel like I'm just wasting time with her on the lunge line in the middle of the pasture since her attention span is that of a cat being taught to sit on command. It's practically non-existent.

Tabby has gone on her first trail ride and went by herself since I couldn't find anyone to ride with me and Glenn was out on the road. I only took her out for 30 minutes, but she was awesome! She crossed a small stream without trouble, went past a big rusty van sitting beside the trail, and totally ignored the barking dog at her heals as we went past the neighbor's house. She was a little concerned with being by herself, but once she was out of earshot of the rest of the herd, she settled down and seemed to enjoy the ride. Her adopter is just about ready for her and Meghan, as their fence is almost done! Woohoo!

Gentry – 05/02/09

2009-05-03T09:42:00.001-04:00

Originally, Maggie was going to ride Gentry, but her girth was too big for him. Then Anne said she’d ride him with her English saddle, but he wouldn’t stand still for her to get on, even with me holding him. He’d prance and dance, then when she was finally up, he turned into a total jerk and came up off his front feet a few times. We had Maggie’s bitless bridle on him and Anne’s saddle fit him fine, so there was absolutely no reason for him to be such a jerk! I didn’t want Anne to get hurt, so had her get off so I could ride him and Anne would ride Willow. Maggie rode Misfire in her new oh so comfy treeless saddle.

He stood fairly still for me to mount, but once I was in the saddle there was no standing still for him. That horse just wants to move. He doesn’t have to run, or even do a running walk, but if he’s not moving in one direction or another, he’s entirely unhappy. He doesn’t even jig and prance, which is what you usually find with a horse that can’t stand still.

Even in the bitless bridle there was a lot of head tossing nonsense, especially in the first 15 minutes of the ride or when I asked him to stand still and wait for the girls to catch up. He’s got a very large ground-eating walk stride and he soon left the calmer mares behind. At first it seemed like he’d never been on trail before, which I knew wasn’t the case. Leaving our property we had to cross a teeny little 6” dry ditch and he thought it was the end of the world. Later in the ride I realized that most of his worry was probably because Willow and Misfire were currently in front of him. How dare they!! He should be in the lead at all times! Any time one of the girls was in the lead, he was a rearing, pawing, nervous maniac.

Once out on the trails, he did fine with water crossings and mud puddles. He never spooked at anything, even when we passed the huge rusty oil/gas wells that usually give new horses at least a moment of pause as they consider the odds of getting eaten. As long as Gentry was in the lead, all was well in his world.

I would stop him often and ask him to stand to wait for the girls. Sometimes he’d stand quietly until they caught up, then it was back to pawing and head tossing until I let him move off again. Other times, there was no getting him to stand without the head tossing, pawing, and coming off his front feet in a semi-rear.

He’s still very disjointed between front and rear which doesn’t help with his lack of surefootedness! When going down a steep hill, if I didn’t half-halt my way down the hill and keep him somewhat balanced, he might have hit himself in the nose with his front feet! Good trail horses will look at a steep downgrade and take their time, picking their way, and watching where they place their feet. Not Gentry! If I let him have his head, he was walking down that hill as fast as he could, head held high, front legs swinging wildly out to the side. Also, he loves to throw his head to the ground when going downhill in an effort to throw his rider over his shoulder. NICE.

Gentry is going to take a good bit of work before I’m comfortable adopting him out to someone that doesn’t have experience working with his type of issues. To sum up, here’s a list of things he needs to improve before going anywhere:

1) The incessant head tossing, and taking the bridle better (he was even a pain about putting on the bitless!)

2) Standing quietly while being mounted and not moving off until asked.

3) He needs to be comfortable anywhere in a string of horses on the trail, not just in the lead.

4) Standing quietly on the trail.

5) Hill work!

6) I need to find an equine chiropractor to come out and adjust him. I think a lot of his disjointed movement when not collected comes from his long back. A couple of times on the trail yesterday I felt something click under my bum. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the saddle, so I’m thinking it was him. He didn’t seem bothered about it, but it’s best to get it looked at before I go any further with him.

General – 04/29/09

2009-04-29T19:15:00.001-04:00

Between work keeping me at the computer until late in the evening and my spare time being spent on halter breaking the new youngsters, I haven’t had a lot of time for any of the other horses lately. Maggie is heading over this Saturday and we’re hoping to get just about everyone worked one way or the other. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’ll be asking her to write up her own posts for the horses that she rides. I can’t wait to get another rider’s input on some of these guys!

Gentry – 04/16/09

2009-04-16T20:39:00.001-04:00

It’s been raining all week and today was the first warm sunny day that I’ve had to ride. Gentry has been sound for over a month, so I decided that today was the day to try him out and see what he knows. I was really excited to be getting on a well-trained Tennessee Walker. It’s been years since I had my two TNW mares and I was really looking forward to a nice comfortable ride.

Is there a chiropractor in the house???

We started out badly, as he has terrible head manners and wouldn’t stop slinging his head around while I was grooming and tacking him. He was difficult about taking the snaffle and kept knocking me around every time I was within reach. It got to the point where I’d stick out an elbow and let him bop himself on it whenever he slung that big head my way.

I took him out to the back pasture and put him on the lunge line first. It was obvious from the get go that he was a pro at lunging, so I didn’t waste too much time before I just got on him. He didn’t want to stand still for me to mount, which is a pet peeve of mine and something I’ll need to work with him on.

I will say that Gentry’s canter, trot, and running walk were wonderful. His canter is one that I dream of getting on Kita one of these days. It was slow, collected, balanced and just plain dreamy to ride. He wanted to trot more than gait, but I did get some nice running walks out of him and as long as he wasn’t slinging his head and playing with the bit, he was smooth.

But how do I describe his walk?? I seriously feel like I need a chiropractic adjustment after riding him for 40 minutes tonight and it’s all because of his walk. For one thing, it feels his hind end is completely discombobulated. My left hip felt like it was being shoved into my belly button with each forward stride from his left hind. What gets me, is that he looked perfectly fine on the lunge line.

He did do a lot of stumbling, but only when he head his head in the air looking for the herd. He’s a bit herd bound, but calmed down within the first 15 minutes and I was able to ride him out of sight and sound of the herd without him getting too worked up. He’s very out of shape from being a pasture potato all winter and the more tired he got, the less he wanted to gait and the more he just wanted to trot. But even his trot is smooth, as long as he doesn’t sling that head around.

I’m hoping the hind end starts to come together with the front end with exercise. And we definitely need to work on that head slinging!

Tabby – 04/08/09

2009-04-09T07:17:00.001-04:00

I’ve ridden Tabby a few times since the last blog post, but if I blog about every uneventful ride of circles, halts, and transitions, someone might think I was a card or two short of a full deck. And we certainly don’t want that. Even if it is true some days.

Last night Kayla and her brother, Jessie, came out to do some volunteer work with the horses. A lot of help that I need is grooming, lunging, and riding. As the two are intermediate riders, they’ll be a great help for giving some of the more experienced horses some exercise, but neither of them knew much about lunging or riding a green horse. Jessie wants to adopt Abby when she’s ready, so we got Tabby saddled and Abby on the lunge line for the first time. I started with Abby, giving Jessie some pointers and the basics of lunging: stand at her hip to make her move forward, move to her shoulder when asking for a whoa, move in a smaller circle within her circle to stay at her hip, use consistent voice commands. Abby seems to have had a little training on the lunge, but she still insisted on turning into Jessie at every opportunity.

After Jessie was on his way with Abby, I gave Tabby over to Kayla for a lunging lesson. Tabby is much better on the lunge, so after a few minutes of Kayla proving that she had the knack of it, I went ahead and mounted up.

As usual, Tabby stood perfectly still for mounting. She’s moving off my leg much better now and feels so much stronger and sure of herself under saddle. Her halts are getting much better and she doesn’t toss her head as much and stops when I roll back on my seat before I even ask with the reins. She’s also getting better about standing still. I’d like to get her out on the trail, but need to wait until someone can go with me on another horse for safety’s sake.

As I was finishing up with Tabby, I asked Jessie if he wanted to ride her for a few minutes. He wants to be involved in Abby’s training and is a quick learner when it comes to riding. At first, Tabby didn’t want to pay attention to Jessie and just followed me around. Eventually, he had her doing as he asked and the two looked great together.

Next week when the kids come out, Tabby will be ready for a short trail ride. Sounds like fun!

Tabby – 03/24/09

2009-03-24T20:26:00.001-04:00

Tabby did extremely well again tonight! I don’t even know why I bother lunging her before getting on anymore. She stands perfectly still for me to mount and waits for me to cue her to walk on. Today we had a bit of a problem at first, as she thought backing up would be the way to go when I gave her a squeeze. After backing for 10’ or so, she finally figured out that forward was easier. Mind you, the reins were totally lose the whole time she was backing up.

She only whinnied for her buddies a few times tonight, which is a drastic reduction from the almost non-stop crying she did the first time. I took her on a mini trail ride around the top pasture, and the only signs she showed of being nervous was not wanting to walk a straight line. She started tossing her head when she really got worried about being so far from the herd, so I circled her a few times until she relaxed, then headed back towards the barn.

On the way back we did more circles, figure eights, and worked on our Whoa. Whenever I asked her to whoa, there would be head tossing, turning on the forehand, and maybe, just maybe, she’d eventually stop for a split second. Every time she’d stop moving I’d loosen the reins as a reward. If she moved off again before I asked for it, I’d bring her back to a whoa, wait till she stopped moving, then loosen the reins. It took about 10 stops for her to learn that stopping and standing was a good thing, worthy of much praise and adoration from me.

Once she had figured out the whoa, I headed back to the barn and on the way up the hill I asked for a trot. It took a little convincing, but she finally picked up a nicely paced trot and continued it all the way up the hill. At the top, I sat down and squeezed the reins, gave her a “WHOA”, and she came down to a walk with a bit of head tossing then stood quietly as I dismounted and loosened the cinch.

She’ll be ready for Mikayla in no time at this pace! What a good girl!

Misfire – 03/19/09

2009-03-19T21:46:00.001-04:00

Tonight was my first ride on Misfire and I was a bit wary because of the things I had heard about her. She’d been abused and was a handful to ride, yet she was well broke and had been ridden in parades and shows.

We took her into the top pasture, which is currently closed off to the herd to let the grass grow. Her little herd is in the back pasture, which runs alongside the top pasture so her buddies could run along the fence and scream about the fact that she’d been taken away. I got her tacked up and started with lunging. I couldn’t really be sure this mare was even broke to ride so it’s better safe than sorry. She lunged beautifully, so it was obvious she’d had at least some training in her past. She was very nervous and spent a lot energy calling to her buddies and trying to get away. She paid very little attention to me so it was time to just mount up and ride.

Her attitude didn’t change once I was in the saddle. She didn’t care that I was up there – she just wanted to be back with her herd. NOW. We spent a lot of time just doing circles and figure eights, making her think about where her feet were going instead of where her friends were. She reacted very well to leg aids and I was able to guide her with just my legs for the most part, while keeping her from taking off back towards her pasture with my seat and hands. She’s obviously had a lot of training at some point, I think it’s just been a long time since she’s been ridden.

After about 20 minutes of just walking, bending, and circling, she finally relaxed into my hands, stopped the jigging, and slowed her pace. It was now acceptable for us to go over the hill and out of sight of her herd mates. This mare just needs some mileage put on her and I think she’ll be a great mount for someone.

Tabby – 03/19/09

2009-03-19T21:32:00.001-04:00

I haven’t had a chance to get back on Tabby until tonight. The plan was to lunge her for a few minutes to get her warmed up and make sure she had all the kinks out, then get on her and follow Glenn and Willow on a mini trail ride around the top pasture.

The lunging went fine and she was a calm and willing to please as ever. She stood still for me to get on and waited for her cue to walk off. She’s still a bit herd bound and as we were walking away from the barn she called for her sisters, but never once offered to buck or spin. She just kept marching away and even led the way in front of Willow. Willow was being a total witch for Glenn – she wouldn’t listen, tried running out from under him several times, and even reared on him twice. Tabby ignored Willow’s shenanigans for the most part and just kept walking the direction I pointed her.

Then we found some deer who thought it would be great fun jump as soon as we rounded the corner, then bound away like a sabertooth tiger were after them. Tabby simply threw up her head and looked at them and kept moving forward on a loose rein. Just as I was about to tell her how much I adored her, I heard loud profanities and the sound of frantic hoof beats behind me. I looked back to find Glenn on the ground and Willow galloping and bucking her way back to the barn, with the saddle sliding dangerously off to the left.

I could feel Tabby getting tense, so before she decided she wanted to join Willow, I hopped off. It’s better to get off while she’s standing there being a good girl, rather than force a big fight on only her second ride. Glenn was fine, just a little sore and incredibly angry. Willow had not only run back to the barn, but had jumped the fence to join the rest of the herd. We found her unhurt, but with the saddle hanging below her belly and one stirrup missing. I think that’s the last time he’ll get on before tightening the girth.

I got back on Tabby once we were back in sight of the barn and everyone had calmed down. I can’t express how impressed I am with this mare!

Chessy -- 03/07/09

2009-03-08T09:17:00.001-04:00

I debated on whether or not to even add Chessy here under the training log, because he really doesn't need any training to do his job as a trail horse for his adopter. Today was my first ride on him, and will probably be the last. We took him and Duchess to the back pasture and just let Duchess roam on her own, knowing she wouldn't go too far from Chessy.

I started him under saddle on the lunge line and he acted as if he'd never been lunged before. He had no idea how to walk on a circle and was really far too upset to even learn. He just wanted to be next to mom, plain and simple. If she was 20' away, she was too far. His owners had told me that he was usually spooky and nervous just starting out, but eventually calmed down. I think once the umbilical cord is cut and he's had some time to live on his own without mom, he'll be much more cooperative and a lot less stressed.

Between the high winds, Duchess ignoring him and walking away, and not knowing how to lunge, I finally gave up and decided I'd have more control in the saddle. He hadn't been bucking or anything like that, he just wasn't paying one ounce of attention to me. Once in the saddle, he was antsy and jiggy, but still not my definition of bad. A few minutes of walking circles, half halts when he tried to trot, and lots of "easy", he calmed down and stopped trying to trot his way back to mom. I finally got nice calm circles, and was able to bend him around my inside leg and circle him further and further away from mom and the gate. We eventually made it out of sight of Duchess and he still remained calm and attentive, so I let him trot a few circles and figure 8s.

WOW. That's all I have to say about his trot.

Duchess eventually came cantering over the hill whinnying, looking for her son. Once she had caught up, I turned him into the very back pasture and asked for a canter up the hill.

OMG. Loose rein, rocking horse, floating. That's all I have to say about his canter.

Hopefully his adopter will be able to make it out this week or next weekend to try him out and make sure they get along. Duchess has already made a couple of new friends in Jewel, Meghan, Radar, and Hunter, so parting the two shouldn't be as traumatic as I had first thought.

Please note how the wind blew up my shirt and made me look like the Goodyear blimp. I love it when that happens and Glenn takes a picture.

Tabby -- 03/07/09

2009-03-08T09:07:00.001-04:00

The weather has finally started to warm up and today was an unseasonably warm and sunny 75 degrees, even though it was incredibly windy. The original plan had just been to lunge Tabby with the saddle and bridle and work on voice commands. I figured since it's been a few months since I worked with her, that she'd have forgotten everything and we'd have to start over. Nope. Even though the rest of the herd was gallivanting around the other pasture and she was by herself, she was quite the lady and did everything perfectly. Glenn wants to learn more about training horses so I coached him as he lunged Tabby, which gave me a chance to take some pictures.

Because she was doing so well and acting bored with the whole lunging routine, I decided today was as good a day as any to get on her for the first time. I had kept her halter on under the bridle, so had Glenn keep a lead rope on her while I put weight in the stirrup, smacked the saddle, hung my body over her back and patted her everywhere, and generally made much to do about how wonderful she was for standing still through all of it. Then I took a deep breath to relax myself and swung on up from the mounting block. Of course she stood still. It only took a light squeeze and a "walk on!" from me to get her moving.

It took her a few moments to get used to my weight on her back and get her feet moving straight, but once she had the hang of it we did some pretty nice circles at the walk. Once she was doing well I had Glenn remove the lead rope and we were on our own. She had a little nervousness about the newness of it all and the herd still playing in the next field, and she let out a whinny or two, but that was it! I stayed on her only for about 10 minutes, just walking circles, practicing WHOA, and getting her used to my leg on her side.

When I asked for a WHOA, I'd say the word in conjunction with rolling back on my hips. If that didn't stop her, then I'd squeeze on the reins lightly. Most of the time I didn't even need the reins. The last WHOA, I waited until she was standing quietly, then dismounted.

It was a very uneventful first ride and that's just the way I like 'em!

Yes, I know I'm riding in shorts. So sue me! It was nice out! :)

General -- 12/28/08

2008-12-28T10:58:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Winter and a boring blog. There will not be much training going on for the next couple of months thanks to the weather and lack of daylight. And the fact that we have not yet won the lottery, so don't have an indoor riding ring. But rest assured that we'll be back in the saddle soon.

Spring Agenda

Jewel will start serious training and I'll be keeping you up to date on her progress -- as long as she doesn't break too many of my bones.

Gentry's soundness will be assessed and if Doc gives the OK he'll be started on a light work regimen to get him back in shape and ready for adoption.

Tabby and Classy will be polished off before going to their new homes.

Megalia will be broke to saddle and spend some time leisurely wondering down the trails before she is put up for adoption.

Radar will receive some serious ground work in an attempt to turn him into a little gentleman before saddle breaking next Fall.

And last, but not least, Quest will start his dressage training.

Have a great Winter and try to stay warm!

Hunter -- General

2008-11-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

Now that I learned the kids are reading this blog, I must put in a forgotten activity. Nephew Jessie occasionally has been mounting Hunter by this means: He holds the mane and swings up the leg letting momentum carry him onto the horse's back. What do you call that anyway? Jessie will eventually be a trick rider, I am sure, the athletic rascal. Nice rescue lady predicts that Lacy and Hunter will be trick riders in a few years. So, why not teach Hunter to do it? God knows I will never EVER be a trick rider and train it to a horse. Anyway, Hunter was surprised at first, but as usual, took it in stride later. We are not going to do a lot of this, just enough to make sure that Hunter is not shocked in his future. We also plan to do other things such as emergency dismounts and offside mounting, but I am sure nothing will ever faze him, really.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 11/16/08

2008-11-20T16:38:00.001-05:00

Hunter rode on his 2nd real trail ride again today. I rode Evil Keisha down the road a half mile to join my brother's kids. Kayla rode Mandy, who until I got there refused to take a bit into her mouth. Good! The kids still need me. Because I secretly need them but don't anyone tell them or they will get swell headed. Hunter, as usual, was fascinated by the goings on and was ready for whatever we were going to do.

So off we went. Me on Evil K, the most experienced trail horse I have right now, Kayla on Mandolin, and Jessie on Hunter wearing my English saddle and a halter with dog leashes attached for reins. Now before you knock dog leashes, know this: Hunter does not like the bit at all, but I want him ready for steering/stopping sooner than later for Lacy's sake. He responds well enough with the pressure on his halter to get saddle experience. Dog leashes are nylon, cheap and have snaps on the ends convenient to hook into the halter. Still, I better get him more conditioned to the bit.

We did a warm up by walking for a while up the trail. Then we trotted. Hunter is getting the hang of this trotting on command by watching the lead horse and then responding to the rider cues, but I am not sure he would do it all alone just yet. Have to try it soon. Today Hunter would not take the lead, but willingly followed anybody. When I took the rear I had the chance to observe. I am not feeling that Hunter is as smooth as I first thought, but Jessie says he is. However, our two boys were more than willing to trot with each other happily. Then I lead and cantered. Mandy broke into what I like to call the quarter horse shuffle. She looked classic. It seems like she has been trained to the show ring. Neato. Hunter cantered, too, easily. He seems effortless in this. He looks very collected and his legs are nicely under him. How do I know? I had to turn around and watch while I was cantering. I prefer not to, but Keisha has so improved this year that she was able to do it. HHH, I made this effort for you! It will be one of the few overtly altruistic acts you will observe from me. But back to Hunter. He went at his various gaits and barely broke a sweat. It was maybe 2 to 4 miles we went. Hard to tell out on the trails. Other than not wanting to take the lead, he was darling. Jessie keeps practicing on steering and whoaing and going with him and the boys had themselves a ball. How do I know? They both were grinning ....yah, both. I swear Hunter smiles.

Hunter -- General

2008-11-20T14:44:00.001-05:00

I am behind on posts- it is a tough time of year for me workwise. So I am going to glom together some things Hunter has been doing.

He has been ridden by my friend Ann's 2 grade school kids - well, led about really by volunteer Jamie. Although he is always interested in kids riding, this is nothing to him anymore. I am lucky to have so many kids around to do this with Hunter. He will be the best babysitter pony ever.

Tori, my friend Jess' fearless 11 year old rode him - really rode him - in our field. She was bareback with a halter and rigged reins. We worked on whoa and go and steering. I would get Hunter stopped and she would hold him there. Then I would walk off some distance - like 20 yards -while she kept him still. On command she would get him to ride to me and stop. We also played a game where they had to follow in my footsteps as I jogged (OMG did I really jog at my age?) about the field. This fierce little girl was determined to make that pony work with a capitol W. It was neat. It was like they were both learning some hard subject in school, but getting great satisfaction in the mastery of it.

Hunter has been quite the Hoodini and getting out a lot. It was because he is short enough to get through this one spot by walking under the top rail and over the bottom one. It was an odd spot because it was at a creek crossing and the elevations changed funnily. Well, before I figured out where the spot was and after I was exhausted from 5 times in one day of putting him back in, I finally drove the garden tractor and led him while I drove on that. It could be classified as bombproofing training. Yup, it ain't ridin', but it shore is learnin'.

Hunter also got moved down to my brother's pasture to be a companion for my niece Kayla's new horse, Lady's Mandolin, who was adopted from HHH. Niece Kasey walked him a half mile down the road while her dad followed in the truck. Kasey even jogged Hunter for a while on this adventure. First time Hunter ever jogged in hand. Wow. He is happily flirting with Mandy until he goes to his new home at Lacy's. Mandy would have been ok by herself, we think, but it is good for Hunter to get experience with changes in surroundings and companions. The grand nephews are now getting pony rides on him. I miss seeing him on a daily basis, but Kayla, Pat, Jessie and the rest of the crowd are taking great care of him.

Oh, and Jessie says I should write in this blog that Hunter is mean, and bucks, and rears and bites. I asked him why should I write that and he answered, "So no one else will want him and I can have him." Hunter and Lacy are are still on. No can do. Don't worry, Jessie-boy. The nice rescue lady is looking for your perfect forever horse.

-- Anastasia

Meghan -- 11/14/08

2008-11-17T09:25:00.004-05:00

At this point Meghan's training is simply physical training to get some of that humongous belly off. I like horses with a little extra going into winter, but Meghan has a little too much fat. When the vet looks at her and thinks she's about ready to pop out a foal then it's too much!

So this past Friday when we took a long trail ride on the North Bend Trail I asked Anne to ride Meghan. I'm usually the only one riding the rescues when they are here on the farm so it's nice to get someone else on them as often as possible. And since Anne doesn't care one way or the other as long as she's riding someone, she's often my stand in. :)

The North Bend Trail used to be a railroad so of course there are bridges and tunnels. The three tunnels we went through were between 333 and 377 feet long and had a slight curve to them. Once you're in the middle of the tunnel it's pitch black and even the horses are unsure where the ground is in front of them. Did this stop Meghan from following Willow into the tunnel? Nope! She marched right in like a trooper and it didn't even seem to make her nervous. Same with the bridges. Anne rode her in a halter and had no trouble with trotting and cantering.

Dare I say it, but she actually looks a little lighter today.

Radar - 11/12/08

2008-11-12T20:20:00.003-05:00

Today was Radar's first real training session. I spent the first 20 minutes trying to teach him what a circle is and how to stay more than five inches away from me when on the lunge line. Radar is the same age as Hunter, but not nearly as intelligent or laid back. The main reason I was trying to teach him to lunge is because he's terrible about having his feet picked up.

Make sense?

I'm all about making the thing I want easy and the bad behavior hard. Whenever I try to pick up Radar's feet he backs away and yanks his leg out of my hand before I even get my hand to his knee. Meghan was the same way when she got here and Jewel still does the same thing. I had great success with Meghan using this method and just haven't tried it with Jewel yet.

Once Radar had the lunging thing down well enough to stay out of my personal space and do a halfway decent circle I tried picking up the inside front foot. As soon as he'd back away or yank his leg out of my hand I'd send him back out on the circle at a trot. Don't want to do as I ask? Then go back to work! I only make him trot around the circle twice before asking for a whoa and trying to pick up his foot again. It only took Meghan about five minutes to figure out that standing there and letting me handle her foot was a lot easier than trotting around in a circle. It took Radar 20 minutes. That was just for the right foot. Like I said, not the brightest bulb in the pack.

As soon as Radar let me pick up the right foot and hold it a few seconds without yanking or pulling away I put it down and let him stop for the night. Tomorrow we'll work on the left foot. The good news is that by the time he lets me pick up all four feet he'll be a pro at lunging!

Megalia -- 11/12/08

2008-11-12T19:56:00.004-05:00

Meg's soundness issue in the left hind is only on the lunge line going to the left, which makes me believe even more that it's a mechanical lameness. I'll have Doc look at her again next time he comes out to confirm. If it is, then she should be fine for light riding duties, such as trail riding.

So instead of lunging I did some line driving with Meg. Like Tabby, she didn't care about the saddle and just gave a big sigh as I tightened up the girth. I have always loved training the old broodmares -- they're so EASY!

Meg also has a good handle on WHOA and turning with the bit. What we did today was really a big waste of time and I should have just gotten on her. Maybe tomorrow!

Tabby -- 11/12/08

2008-11-12T19:47:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day that I had the time to work with any horses during my "vacation". I started with Tabby, who really didn't care what I did to her as long as it didn't take her away from her hay for too long. I put the synthetic western on her, which she didn't care about at all, even when I tightened up the girth as far as I could. She took the bit in her mouth like it was old hat and she was ready to be hitched to the sulky for a race.

I lunged her for about 15 minutes, both directions at the walk and trot. To my complete surprise, she actually broke into a canter when going to the right! What?? A Standardbred off the track voluntarily cantering?? Could I be so lucky? It was short lived, but there it was. I was tickled pink and almost broke into my happy dance. After lunging I put a second line on her and ran both lunge lines through the rings on the front of the saddle so I could line drive her. This was old hat for her as well, but I wanted to make sure she understood WHOA in conjunction with pulling on the bit. Yup.

Her paperwork from the other rescue said that she was not broke to ride, but I think it's going to take only one or two rides to have her at least walking and trotting well enough to have Mikayla ride her. I wanted so badly to get on her today, but was home alone. My one rule for myself is not to get on a greenie or new horse without someone else here. Bonnie is coming over for a lesson on Steel tomorrow, so I might be able to talk her into staying long enough after her lesson for me to get on Tabby.

Hunter -- 11/03/08

2008-11-07T11:41:00.001-05:00

I am discovering that the worst part about pony training is not being able to ride him. If only I could get on Hunter and polish him up. But I am too big. Even if I lost weight, I would always be too big to break ponies. The down side is that you don't always have a kid that is well trained enough to persuade the pony to do what is necessary.

Take tonight: Hunter got to play with Emilee and Mikayla. We were riding through our pasture (stallion removed of course) on a mini trail ride. Hunter was fine to go with Emilee, but anytime he was unsure of what to do he stopped and stood. Overall, a great trait for a kid's horse, but a bit frustrating for Emilee. She does not have the experience to urge him effectively. Several mini disasters later, I ended up leading Hunter having surrendered my horse, Keisha, to Mikayla who in turn surrendered Old Joe to Emilee. Not that Hunter was bad at all....just a little confused at times.

The thing to focus on here is that a less secure horse may have bolted, bucked, turned around to slog toward safety, etc. Hunter just quietly and alertly stood while he tried to work out what was supposed to be happening. He just needs more wet saddle blankets.

Hunter -- 11/02/08

2008-11-03T07:35:00.001-05:00

He did it! Hunter went on a trail ride without being ponied. And he thought it was the coolest thing, ever. If a horse could giggle, he giggled the entire time.

Jessie, my nephew, rode him. Jessie weighs 113 soaking wet. If there are any readers that are following this, I have a 27 nephews and nieces, and 14 great nieces and nephews. As soon as a kid starts to weigh too much for riding a pony, my family will output another kid. Anyhoo, Jessie was looking forward to this, as he hadn't ridden for over a year. The delay was due to 4 wheelers, bad grades, football, video games and girls. But he's back and wants a horse of his own. And willing to prove to his dad that he will make riding a higher priority than video games. We'll see.

I rode my good old bad-tempered mare, Keisha, since she and I do very well together and I wanted to be maneuverable if it proved necessary. It did not, at least with Hunter. Kasey, my fairly well-trained niece, rode my new boy, Joma. Her boyfriend, Andy, rode good old Appy Joe. Off we went without a hitch into the woods and fields.

Hunter was great. He acted like a seasoned horse. He outperformed Joma, who was sure there were piranhas in a puddle and had to be ponied by Keisha for a spell. Hunter did not care who he followed, who was in front, who was in back and actually passed Keisha in the lead a couple of times. He stopped when asked, waited quietly when asked and - get this- trotted and cantered when asked!

I wasn't sure how the ride would go, but after I saw how well Hunter was doing, I coached Jessie on how to cue him and we trotted. Jessie reports that he is as smooth as Joe. Believe me, Joe is smooth. After a while, we had a nice, long, easy, uphill slope and decided to ask Hunter to canter. This made me anxious, as I feared Hunter may buck in a romping kind of way. Nope. He acted like an old hand and Jessie said he was just as smooth as Joe on this, as well. Jessie also used the reins to guide him back and forth, left and right, on the wide trail to reinforce Hunter's earlier lessons. Oooo I wish I was not fat so I could ride him, too!

We rode for about 45 minutes or an hour. Mostly easy walking. Lots of stopping to wait on the slow guy, ex-racehorse Joma. Then back home where Hunter again acted like a pro while we pulled up to my front yard where we untacked. Funny thing - it was the first time I have ever seen my little man sweat. He wasn't tired, though. He was a living doll and Jessie is SO disappointed that Lacy has adopted him. Lacy, if you change your mind, I know my niece and nephew want him very very very much! But we know you would never let a dream horse like this slip through your hands.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 11/01/08 #1

2008-11-03T07:34:00.005-05:00

I think Hunter is part Wookie. When I bitted him up today he made a lot more of those bizarre noises. He is just protesting the bit, but he was not so bad this time.

Today he got the surcingle on and I did what I call line driving. For anyone who is reading this and learning it works like this. You essentially are behind the horse like you are pulling a plow, but there is no plow. You walk behind the horse and use the reins and your voice to control them. This will get the horse used to following commands when he cannot see you...like when you are riding him! Hunter did his best to get me where he could see me, but I kept darting around behind him to be square with his rear. I had the lunge whip with me,but that turned out to be largely unnecessary. Mostly I ended up using it to flip the lines back over him when he kept twirling to get me into his sight.

After he got this business of me behind him where he couldn't see me figured out, we went to go and whoa. Too easy. He had that figured out a good while back. Then we started steering. He had the basics of this figured out from yesterday's lesson. After only 15 min or so of this he was steering pretty well - by no means fluently, but nicely done at this stage.

Of course I stopped frequently and told him how great he was and petted him. He forgot all about how unhappy he was about the bit and stopped making Wookie noises.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 11/01/08 #2

2008-11-03T07:34:00.004-05:00

Hunter has found a wide spot in the fence and has been getting out. So he got a second lesson on line driving because he made himself so handy. Actually, I probably would have done it anyway to get him ready for tomorrow's planned trail ride.

He took the bit willingly. Huh? He made no Wookie noises. Double huh? Dear reader, this little fellow figured out that the bit equals playtime.

First I should say I forgot to mention in my earlier post today that we worked on flexing the neck from the movement of the reins. When I first flexed him, he thought he should back up, but I blocked his feet moving backwards with either my leg or the whip used as a block. After flexing toward me, I reached over his back and flexed him away from me. He loved this lesson, I am sure, because it gave him more excuses for touching and petting.

We line drove all over the field: left, right, whoa, go. He had a ball. So did I. Since we both thought this was splendid fun, we did this for about 45 minutes, stopping periodically to adore him. Normally on a new horse and/or new skill I limit the time we spend so I don't sour the poor beast. But Hunter wanted to do it, so we did. When I stopped and untacked him, he wouldn't leave and followed me around. I think he wanted even more.

I have only had one other horse as easy to train as him, and I handled her from the day she was born. He has ruined me for the next horse.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 10/31/08

2008-11-01T14:54:00.000-04:00

Hunter got to be ridden for the first time all alone. I used a Tom Thumb on him, which he has had in his mouth before. He doesn't much care for it, but I know with time and patience he will understand how it works. All in all, he did fine for his first solo.

Jamie, a horsey friend who is skinny, got on him and she gently urged him and guided his head with the reins. He fretted about the bit, lathering it liberally and making a ewwy green paste from the grass he had been eating. He wiped it on my white sweater sleeve. Hope it comes out! Jamie would urge him on by squeezing and clucking and if he did not respond (which was most of the time at this point) I pushed him from behind. I then switched to gently giving him a jump start by leading him with his halter, but I wanted him to catch on to the rider cue, not me. Still, he was ok for this, especially when he was so busy with the bit. We only worked with Jamie on a few minutes and once he moved on cue from her and responded to the reins a little she got off. I tell you he made some pretty weird noises during this time...noises I did not know could come out of a horse. Hunter is such a character, I am not surprised he could produce these groans, gargles, whines, etc. They were dog sounds bordering on human sounds! And no, there was nothing tight on him. I checked repeatedly. I swear he will be Mr. Ed someday and actually talk. He probably was voicing his protest about the bit because he loves people to sit on him now.

Then my niece, Kayla, who is even smaller than Veronica, got on him. Kayla announced recently she wanted to adopt a rescue horse and her dad asked me to make it happen. So she is now starting lessons in earnest. She had had some basics over a year ago, so she was not a total greenie. I took the lunge line to its limit and Kayla clucked, squeezed, then I reeled him in. That was too easy. The last time, he came on his own from the rider's cue. Time to quit. We then led him about still bitted up while he continued to fuss and make occasional audible comments about the situation. He was mollified by the petting and attention but never forgot the bit.

I'm not worried about this stage, because not once did he act angry, frightened or stubborn. He's just not a fireworks kind of guy.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 10/25/08

2008-10-27T19:55:00.002-04:00

Lacy came to see Hunter again today. Woohoo! They are the perfect couple. Mom Tammi brought along Lacy's daddy's saddle from when he was a little boy. It fit to a T. They will get it reworked for safety at a tack place and it will last for years. Hunter got ponied by stable old Joe on a long line and was great. He is so so so ready for a trail ride. They left his bridle and bit with me to condition him to it. You know, I'm just going to let pictures tell the story.

Hunter -- 10/20/08

2008-10-21T08:21:00.000-04:00

Emily and Mikayla came for training again. They are the girls that are adopting Megan and her unborn foal as well as another horse. First it was Emily who was really into this, but Mikayla has shown genuine natural talent as well! These gals could do horse shows if they want. They are going to be the perfect horse owners.

Tonight the girls learned about hay, saddling, and how to hold the reins in such as way as they are really in control of the horse. Hunter watchers, there is something coming up about him. There is more..keep reading! So Mikayla goes upon Keisha and Emily on Joe.

Keisha, The Most Selfish Horse in the World, knows that an untrained rider can't/won't make her do anything, so she will do as she pleases which is usually eat and roam about at various speeds to avoid doing work. A trained rider will not let her eat while working. Mikayla learned very nicely to make her stand quietly and not eat. Big stuff for the novice! For the first time Mikayla is in control. Emily did the same on Joe. I was thrilled when we played a type of Simon Says while the girls had the horses go and whoa on command. They did very very well indeed. Then they got to the arena-ish area and they worked the oval in both directions and did serpentine weaves, all the while oscillating their hands in time with the horses' head movements. From the very slow amble, they each moved to a fast walk. Those girls are so cute. They weren't sure if they were running or not at this stage.

I had started the lesson with the caution that we would not do anything as exciting as trot, but I changed my mind once I saw how brilliantly they caught on. Joe is incredibly smooth and does not need to be posted, so they young horsewomen took turns and learned to trot for the first time. Wow, these gals are naturals.

In the meantime, Hunter was not happy about being ignored. He could care less about the other horses - he wanted those girls! Folks, I know horses enough to know the diff. He ran along the fence, not in the way that a separated horse does...and Hunter is independent enough not be herd bound AT ALL...but was showing off! I laughed at him - he must be used to that by now. He was trying to show his moves so we would take him out to play, I guess. That little nut. I can't wait till Saturday when Lacy will come to ride him.

Hunter -- 10/19/08

2008-10-21T08:20:00.000-04:00

This isn't really training, but I want everyone to know he's still getting experience.Hunter got his first haircut today. Honestly, this little horse is so easy. I didn't even halter him. He just stood in the field while I gave him his first big boy bridle path. Ooo he is a doll. The trim is pretty much western and he is looking good in it. However his forelock still stands on end and makes him look a bit like a troll doll. Better get out the Cowboy Magic. Oh, and I did some ear trimming too - still with no halter. He stood still so I would just keep touching him.

Later the farrier came over and was doing everyone's feet in the field while Hunter got to roam and supervise the proceedings. He is a bit of a pest at times. Especially if everyone else is tied. He has earned the nickname 'pigboy' because of his addiction to food. But his affection for grub has made him figure out his own special whistle for him to come to supper. And he is pretty good about his name now. It is usually said like this: "Hunter! get out of that fence,food,other horses face!" And he can get along with any horse. The new thoroughbreds accept him, and even Ike is now grazing nose to nose with him at times. He is the perfect horse to enter into a new herd.

Anyway, as the farrier was bent over with 5 other horses, Hunter kept coming over checking out tools, getting underfoot, and even trying to give the poor farrier a wedgie. I should have tied him, but I could not take time to get his halter out of the house since I was the handler. Anyway, it was funny... and for what I am now paying the man, even though he is earning every dime, I thought a wedgie for entertainment wasn't too much to ask. Hey, farrier! If you are reading this, just kidding! Please come back in 6 weeks. Please, pretty please? Seriously, the farrier is a friend and as a friend he did me a favor: he did a fake shoeing job on Hunter. Fake hammering, fake clinching, feet on the hoof support. Hunter got a grade of A for his age and experience. Y'all just don't know how much I love this little horse!

Hunter -- 10/17/08

2008-10-21T08:07:00.001-04:00

Dear Hunter fans,

Hunter has not been forgotten nor neglected. I have just been working a lot of extra shifts lately. Sorry for the late update.

Emily and Mikala came over and are learning quickly to be horse owners. Emily rode Hunter while being ponied. Keisha, the Most Selfish Horse in the World, was the leader while Mikala rode Joe, AKA, Keisha's Butt Protector. The lesson of the night was oscillation with the reins.

Well, things went well for a while, Joe following Keisha like a good pack horse and Hunter almost crowing with delight at his inclusion. Girls were delighted, too and were doing their lessons ever so well . Then Keisha had her fill of Hunter waddling nearly underfoot despite his being a good boy and she kicked him. Hunter darted to the side (not the first time this impetuous kid gotta kick from one of the herd) and off came Emily. Oh, she cried from the betrayal! She was doing everything right and still she was unhorsed. Brave little girl. She got back up ---on Keisha! Brave parents. They held back from rushing to the scene and allowed the old saying 'if you fall off the horse get right back on' be carried out. Brave, brave parents! They keep coming back even though this has cost them money, time and eight stitches.

Hunter licked his wounded pride for a few seconds and returned to gawking at the whole process with fascination. I swear he is getting broke to ride just by watching all this. Lacy, you lucky girl. You are getting the smartest, cutest horse in the world.

Meghan -- 10/13/08

2008-10-13T20:10:00.004-04:00

This isn't exactly a training post for Meghan. The family interested in adopting Meghan and her foal came out to meet her tonight. Meghan is going to be E's horse, but M immediately started braiding that beautiful mane. This wasn't posed, E just felt like laying down and hugging Meghan. I think it's love.

Meghan stood still for all the attention being lavished on her and never made an impatient move. Meghan will stay here until the foal is born, then when both are ready they'll go to live with E and M. The foal will be M's 4-H project. Meghan deserves to have two girls doting on her and we're so happy that she's got a good home to look forward to!

Hunter -- 10/6/08

2008-10-07T07:08:00.001-04:00

Megan's future forever family came over tonight again. They are such darling girls. The nice rescue lady and man came over to meet them. I pleaded to have NRL (nice rescue lady) join the lessons. I will limit it to just Hunter's part in this delightful session.

E. and M. worked on ground work with Hunter and Joe, our old kid trained Appy. They did very well. I agree with NRL that Hunter is bored with leading and is ready to move on. But not yet with these particular kids. Too early for them with a horse under training.

Then NRL saddled Hunter and off E. and Hunter went on their lessons. I learned a lot from NRL here in the last 2 days, as well. I am going to copy her on a bunch of stuff. I am so enamored with Hunter, I could bore you all with a copious report of every little thing they did...and maybe have done so in the past. However, for those following his progress, I will spare you. Everything went well and Hunter seemed to fall asleep half the time. He is so content. He was born to be fussed over by what I am now calling 'his ladies'.

By the way, he is trotting on his own on the lunge line. He seems to think this splendid fun. When NRL says I am allowed work him at a trot, and/or canter, we will move to that because he seems to be coming into his own on athletic ability. I honestly think this fellow could be anything his owner wanted - trail horse, English pleasure, junior barrel racer, jumper, Western pleasure - as smart and gifted as he is. And apparently he is going to turn into quite a hunk, as well!

Hunter -- 10/5/08

2008-10-06T14:05:00.003-04:00

WVFarmgirl here. I'm doing Hunter's post for yesterday since I was there to witness firsthand the power of the pony, who is quickly becoming a non-pony because he's growing SO DARNED FAST!!! Remember the pic of his butt about 5" above his withers? Not anymore! His front end has pretty much caught up with the butt and he's also filled out. Now he looks more like a quarterhorse than a quarter of a horse. But he still has that babyish charm that makes you just want to fawn all over him and shower him in kisses. Which is pretty much what happened yesterday.

Anastasia's niece brought over a couple of friends and all of them are in the sixth grade. Need I say more? There was much fussing over Hunter, grooming, smooching, and general girlish silliness. Hunter loved every second of it.

All pictures were taken on Anne's camera and I'm waiting on her to send the rest my way. So for now I just have this one:

Can we say absolutely adorable???? Hunter did very well and is starting to associate leg squeezing with moving forward. I also had the girls work on WHOA while rotating back on their butt and squeezing gently on the reins. Hunter is still being ridden with a bitless bridle for now, but he was still a very good boy and an incredibly quick learner. Initially there was some hesitation when one of the girls would try to turn him, but once I showed them how to open that rein and pull out to the side instead of pulling back, he picked up on it a lot quicker. Eventually they had him turning away from me as I was leading and doing circles with me on the outside. As usual, Hunter took everything in stride and didn't get upset about anything that was done to him. Even when one of the girls got a leg up and floundered around a bit trying to right herself on him, he stood his ground with slack in the lead rope like he knew exactly what was going on and wasn't going to let him bother him.

I think he's ready to be turned loose with saddle and girl, but only in a small area and at a walk. At this point I think keeping him on the lead rope is old hat for him and he's looking to move on to something more challenging. What a good boy!!!

Classy -- 10/5/08

2008-10-06T13:21:00.005-04:00

Classy went with Kita and Willow over to Anastasia's yesterday for a three hour trail ride. I was planning on riding her myself, but because I'm incredibly selfish and didn't want anyone else riding Kita, Anne rode Classy instead.

Classy was an absolute angel for most the ride. The only problem Anne had with her was when we stopped on the trail for a slight emergency. Classy didn't want to stand still, but backing up and turning circles seemed like fun. Anne handled it very well, and eventually we were on our way again. Classy is incredibly sensitive to the bit and if Anne kept the slightest contact on her mouth Classy would flap her bottom lip and chew nervously on the bit. But once there was slack in the reins the chewing stopped, the head dropped, and all was well in the world of Classy. She also got upset if Keisha the Couch was riding behind her. I can't say that I blame her, Keisha makes all my horses nervous if she's behind them. She just has this horror movie stalking thing that none of my horses trust. No matter how fast they go, Keisha is always ambling along behind with that "I'm the alpha mare and I want to kill you" look on her face.

The other problem that Anne encountered was one that I expected from a STB off the track. Classy has no canter. She'll trot fast enough to keep up with cantering horses, but she doesn't understand the concept of a third gait. This is something I dealt with when I brought Semi home all those years ago and just haven't started working with Classy on it yet.

Mid-way on the ride, we stopped by the river for some R&R and tied up all the horses (which is why I like to keep halters on in the first place!). Classy was just as calm and quiet as everyone else and stood quietly for the 30 or so minutes that she was tied. Isn't she just beautiful??? I love this mare. :)

Hunter -- 10/3/08

2008-10-06T10:33:00.001-04:00

Hunter met his new family (we hope we hope we hope) for the first time today. Mom Tammi brought 7 year old daughter, Lacy, for a get acquainted meeting. Turned out Lacy had picked out her outfit for the meeting days ago. I am sure Hunter thought she looked very pretty.

As they drove past the field on arrival, Lacy spotted Hunter from his training blog pics. Talk about meeting over the internet! They immediately got along quite well. Tammi took a great number of pictures and will be sending them along soon. Hunter was fascinated with the camera. We all had a great laugh about how he either was mugging for the camera or wanting to nose it... while it rested on Tammi's chest. We went through our paces to show off how good he is. Lacy got on his back and Tammi led him about. Tammi had had horses in her past so she was quite prepared to handle Hunter.

It was incredibly tender, how Lacy and Hunter touched one another and breathed each other's scents. Hunter is still growing, dear readers. Apparently he is making up for lost time from before he was rescued. He has the possibility of growing for another 4 years or so. Please please please let these two grow up together. Hunter and Lacy. Lacy and Hunter. Has a nice ring to it don't you think?

Hunter -- 09/30/08

2008-10-06T10:12:00.001-04:00

The intrepid family showed up today. Hurray! I was afraid that after the hurt leg they would be scared off. But brave mom sat in a lawn chair and enjoyed the proceedings.

Hunter's job today was to be tied and led and otherwise wait and be calm. He did this splendidly while the family learned horse care facts and balance on another horse. Some days that is what will be expected of him - to chill while other things are going on.

The family that gets him will be lucky. He is such a good boy.

Hunter -- 09/28/08

2008-10-02T20:42:00.002-04:00

Today was the worst day ever for Hunter and me. I am typing with a dislocated finger because of our travails. My name must be Earl, because I guess Karma caught up with us to even out yesterday's great day. Either that or it is Newton's third law. Or maybe the second law of thermodynamics. They are all in effect today.

It went like this:

The family that will probably adopt Meghan has hired me to train them all to be good horse owners. Especially, they want their two girls, age 10 and 14, to become competent riders. So they all came, Dad, Mom, the sisters. After I trained the girls to safely brush Hunter and move about a horse properly, I went to the house to get a penicillin injection for mare Keisha, who has been 'snotting' lately. I thought it was a unique opportunity for them to learn about giving an injection. I was gone only moments and the mom comes limping up, white-faced and bleeding from a gash in her leg. She had run against a metal stake that held a newly planted tree. I grabbed the first aid kit and Scott dashed off to get my sister the nurse. She returned to dress the wound to ready the lady for the hospital. Keisha did get her shot, one child did get to sit on her, but it was not the joyful day I had hoped for. The poor mom ended up with 8 stitches.

I thought my mind was on working with Hunter after they left, but I guess it was distracted by the accident. I made a huge mistake. As I worked Hunter for the first time on the lunge on his near side, I snapped the whip to keep him moving when he tried to stop. Didn't touch him, just unthinkingly treated him like one of the seasoned horses. SwoooooTOCK! went the whip. In the air went Hunter. He banged his nose hard on the stud chain, jerked the lead out of my hand and took off.

I never, ever wind the lead around my hand and I didn't this time either. It was a freak thing. I was holding the end of the lead (I had been lunging him only at a walk on a long lead strap, not a lunge line) and the end that had been folded over and sewn somehow came through my hand with such force as to dislocate my left middle finger at the last joint. I have a form of arthritis that attacks my cartilage. Had this happened to a normal person, I don't think they would have been staring at a finger that now canted at a 45 degree angle at the tip. In the meantime Hunter is desperately wanting back in the fence and stomping on the lead, thus banging his poor nose even more and running like the devil wanted a bite out of him. So I grabbed the finger, reset it...ow ow ow ow OW.... and walked after the poor boy.

I never chase a horse. Keisha would just think it was jolly fun. Joe, our old Appy would run because he would be trying to escape whatever I must be escaping from. Ike would run because he would think he was going to get a beating based on his past. No horse I ever met responds well to running after them. So I went slowly to catch him. Oh poor little Hunter! Whatever happened to you that made you think I would kill you if you got caught? I have never been anything but kind to him and you would have thought I beat him hourly as panicked as he was. I finally was able to get him and he was visibly relieved.

We could NOT end this on such a bad note. I led him back to the training area where we continued with lunging for a few minutes without further incident. I then went to things he knew well so there would be excuses for lots of petting and praise, finally leading him into the pasture where he did everything politely. I released him and he literally thundered back to the herd and the comfort of his own species.

It was then I saw blood on me. Whose blood???? The poor lady's, or Hunter's or mine? I haven't figured out whose. I am a reasonably competent horsewoman and I still got hurt. The lessons? Keep first aid supplies handy;you never know when you will really need them. When things go badly in training - and they will sometimes - always drop back to a topic in which the horse can reach success so you end on a good note. Never have your mind on something else when training a horse....even a very good horse. That is the lesson I forgot.

Hunter -- 09/27/08

2008-09-30T07:13:00.000-04:00

Today was the best training yet! Hunter got a stud chain around his nose and we did whoa and go. It added just the right amount of pressure and after a few minutes he was great. He got the English saddle and he was just fine on that too. Scott tugged on the saddle and did some moves where he grasped the saddle and kind of bounced as if he would mount. Hunter was curious but quite calm - his usual demeanor. Then he got lunged with the stud chain and saddle on the off side. He understood whoa so well. He was a dreamboy in the field, too, while in hand. And best of all, I think there is a family with two preteen girls who want him. Oh happy day!

Hunter -- 09/25/08

2008-09-26T18:55:00.000-04:00

I worked 3 doubles in a row and there seems to be a strange horse in the pasture when I finally see the pasture in daylight. Or, rather, half a strange horse. Could Hunter's hindquarters have grown that much in 3 days? He had had a height spurt since he came, but now he is filling out and looks like a typical quarterhorse on the rear. He looks to be a great western style prospect. Please catch up soon, front end!

The pony bridle I bought to train him will not work out, as the throat latch is way too small. Funny, the length of the cheek pieces are just right, but may be too small when our boy's front end finally catches up with his back. I will try a small horse bridle and if that is too big, I may have to get an Arab rig. The 4 1/2" bit is just right, though. He has a delicate little muzzle.

I bought a Tom Thumb pony bit for him. These are so mild. I took off the reins, lip strap and bit that came with the bridle and put in the Tom Thumb. I coated the bit with apricot jelly and started today's lesson. I knew Hunter would like the jelly because he has turned into a little food grubber.

With his growth spurt, I have been giving him a little horse pellets that were for Ike - who still looks like he is starving to me despite all our efforts - so Hunter can be sure of having enough nutrients to support his growth. You know how cats wind their way about your ankles when you have food? Well Hunter is apparently part large cat. Bloody nuisance at times. Scott even had to chase him away today because he was underfoot while Scott tried to weedeat the drainage ditches in the pasture. This fascination with humans will be a boon for his future pet days, however.

Anyway, Hunter took the bit readily. The instant he sucked off the jelly he hated having it in his mouth. I had him tied for this project. I left him tossing his head and chomping and skittering around while I found something else to do. I don't want him to associate his problem with me. He chilled out and I returned to brush him. Attention-hog stopped chomping the loose bit to enjoy this favorite activity. I then tightened one notch. More chomping. More brushing till he was still. One more notch. Repeat performance. I never got it as tight as it should be, but this is just conditioning. We will do a lot of this and in future posts, you can probably assume he has it in his mouth while training.

I put on the surcingle loosely to get him ready for future line driving lessons. As I suspected, he seemed to rather enjoy having it on. I am going to try the English saddle tomorrow since he seems more than ready. I wanted to do something familiar with him today so he could manage to have success while worrying about that bit, so I did his feet. He still is just a bit awkward on the off hind, but nearly farrier-ready. I then led him on his near side for go and whoa practice. He is doing well, but it is clear to me that as his growth spurt is happening, he is challenging/questioning his position in the ranks. He tests me. He may get a stud chain to help him understand that I am the boss mare around here. I rarely jerk it. I just lead, changing directions and stopping suddenly so it is up to the horse to pay attention so he doesn't get banged by the chain.

He was doing so well on whoa that I wanted to reward by stopping on a good note. Hunter nearly blew it. After I removed the bridle but not the halter and we entered the field where the rest of the mob was standing quietly tied, he wanted to charge off. This may have been due to a number of factors, but no matter the reason, he must always remain calm when in hand. We went through more whoa and go until he was getting it as well as he had before we entered the field.

Perhaps I am being too detailed in his blog, but I have already showed this site to a number of potential adopters. I write in the hopes that a family will get to know him through the writings and fall in love with the little charmer, just the way I did, and want to give him a forever home.

Jewel -- 09/22/08

2008-09-23T16:18:00.000-04:00

Things have been pretty hectic around here lately, so I have not had a chance to get back to Jewel until last night.

Apparently, she's one of those drama queens when it comes to "firsts", but after that she's fine. I had her tied in the same spot, walked up with the saddle pad, put it on her back. No dancing, no rearing, no wild eyes. It was boring to her by now. Good! I gave her some praise, then let her eat dinner.

While she was eating, I put the pad back on, then put the saddle on. You can do anything with this mare when she's got her nose in the feed bucket! I didn't tighten the girth much, since I heard that she was a bucking bronc with the saddle on. The few times I've massaged her I've found a lump of what I believe is scar tissue under the off side girth area which could be causing some pain or discomfort when the girth is tight.

{Jewel had a bad accident way before I got her that nearly took off her right front leg. She was cut deep thru the chest to back behind the front leg, I'm just not sure how far. At this point I'm not even sure she'll ever be able to be ridden with a saddle, but time will tell. She's certainly sound in the pasture and on the lunge line.}

When she was done eating I took her for a walk with the saddle on. Her only concern was getting back to the hay. I stopped, tightened the girth up a notch, walked on a little more. Eventually, it was tight enough to keep the saddle on while doing ground work, but still not tight enough to hop on (not that I'm crazy enough to do that yet). Since she had been so good, I untacked, brushed her down, and let her go back to doing what horses do best... eating.

Hunter -- 09/20/08

2008-09-20T22:42:00.003-04:00

Today was a day for many firsts for Hunter: he had really little kids around and on him, he got smacked for the first time ever, and he got ridden ,sort of, with a bridle.

My tiny nieces came over with mom and Veronica, the saddle broke niece. Hunter had no idea what to make of these squeaky dog-sized creatures. He snuffled and eyeballed them and then I assume he determined they were tiny humans. It is best described by the conversations. I leave it to the reader to figure out who is talking.

"We're going to ride the PONY!" "I love you Hunter. Give me a kiss." "Hunter's the best pony in the whole world." "I'll keep your pony treats for you because you don't have pockets." "Maybe Hunter has pockets." "Is that fence strong enough? Those other horses can get right through that and hurt the babies." "Hey look, pony treats all over the ground." "No no. Those aren't pony treats, that's pony poo." " I want to ride first." " Come around the front of the pony...no that's the back of the pony." " My poo isn't as big as Hunter's." "Can people eat pony treats?" " Oh no, is anyone eating pony treats right now?" "I'm going to pretend that this is our pet and I'm riding him. Only I have a helmet on and we're running." "Don't be mad. She doesn't have to hold a pretend helmet." " Hunter kissed me again. I ate his kiss so I could keep it." "You didn't eat any pony treats did you? DID YOU?" "I want a second ride." "Are you sure that fence is strong enough? It looks like some of those fence posts are going to fall over." "I have a boo boo and it's leaking." "That's not a boo boo. That's where you ate a popsicle and it dripped on you." "Look look grandma! I'm riding all by myself!" "Don't let go of Hunter's mane, even to wave to grandma." " I want to hold the pony's string and pull him." "Do ponies go to kindergarten?"

Oh, you think I am making this up? I assure you, I am not that clever.

Dear reader, I have never had children. I had great empathy for Hunter today, because this non-stop tiny person chatter was as alien to me as to him. We spent about a half hour leading the children about, me on one side holding on the kid of the moment and Veronica on the other. Hunter was unbelievably gentle and instinctively, perhaps, stopped anytime he was unclear as to what he should do. Welcome to your destiny, Hunter!

During this process, Hunter deliberately banged me hard with his head and got a swat to the offending part for his trouble. I don't like to do this, but you all have seen horses punish each other for rudeness. I was mild compared to what they do to each other. And no, there wasn't a kid on him at the time. He took it like a horse and was over it quickly.

VV decided she wanted to ride Hunter, too. So I put on a bridle over his halter and gave her a leg up. The bridle has no bit in it. I want to get Hunter's mouth conditioned by line driving with a bit before he gets ridden with one. Hunter had one lunge lesson so far, during which he was a bit goosey about the whip. I did not use it this lesson because VV was up bareback and I only wanted walking today and no worriedness about what I was doing with the whip. He had no trouble understanding clucking during the previous lesson, but whoa was a problem. The reverse happened today. I think it was because the kid-on-back element was making him unsure. We worked only on the off side again today. I kept a fairly short line and walked the circle so I could get to them if it was necessary. Sometimes I had to move in and touch his rump with my hand to get him going if clucking didn't work. Squeezing him with the legs meant nothing today. It will come with time, I am sure. VV would ask for a whoa, tightening the reins and relaxing them as soon as he stopped. She also kept him from turning his left eye toward me and kept his body perpendicular to the line using the reins. He did very well and never fought the bridle once. We stopped after 10 minutes or less, because I didn't want Hunter mentally taxed any more. Veronica got to ride Keisha ,after we put him to pasture, as a reward for her help with the little girls and little Hunter.

It was a marvelous day, although a bit bewildering for Hunter, filled with new exciting things. A lot like kindergarten. And Hunter is learning his ABC's very well.

-- Anastasia

Classy -- 09/16/08

2008-09-16T20:10:00.003-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done a Classy post only because all I've been doing is lunging. Voice commands, transitions, boring stuff. I've mainly just been trying to get her into shape. We're headed over to Anastasia's for riding again on Sunday, and this time the guys are going so it will probably just be a 1-2 hour ride. As much as I would love to take Kita again, Classy needs the experience and exercise more. But this time I'll ride her, and attempt to control her "princess" moments.

Tonight I put the English saddle on her instead of the synthetic western that I usually put on the greenies. We worked mostly on trotting circles and figure eights, making the circles smaller and smaller, then going back out again in both directions to make her more flexible. At first she was irritated that Tabby hadn't come out to the pasture as usual to keep her company and paid no attention to my leg and seat aids. It was like riding a 2x4.

Then she finally figured out that no matter how many times she kicked out when I squeezed with my legs, or how far in the sky she pointed her nose, or how short and choppy her trot was, I was determined to make her work. After about 10 minutes of nonsense she grew tired of fighting it and began to relax. The head dropped into a nice frame, the trot slowed and the strides grew longer, and she reacted to my squeezing by moving forward into the bit. Hallelujah.

Five minutes later, I slowed her down and let her walk. Then untacked, groomed, and let her go back to stuffing her face with hay. Hopefully, she'll learn that the sooner she calms down and pays attention, the sooner I get off.

Jewel -- 09/16/08

2008-09-16T19:42:00.004-04:00

I just don't know what to do with this mare. I've been nothing but kind and gentle with her and she remains distrusting and explosive. She's been lunging so well lately (I don't journal every night of lunging, cause how boring would that be) that tonight I thought I might try lunging her with a saddle. I was told she'd has the saddle on before, but had bucked like a bronco so no one ever got on her. Can't say that I blame them, I'm not sure I'm crazy enough to get on a bucking bronc either. But things have got to progress at some point, or this mare will never find a good riding home. And she's simply too young and healthy to sit around being a pasture ornament for the rest of her life.

I always try to take the approach of pretending nothing is out of the ordinary. Don't coddle. Don't move slow like there's something to be afraid of. Just act normal, like the horse has done this "new" thing 1,000 times already. This didn't work tonight when it came to walking up to Jewel with the saddle pad in my hand. I had her tied with a slipknot to a sturdy fence post where we haven't put up new fence yet, so there was nothing for her to get caught up in if she panicked. At 10' away the whites of her eyes started to show. At 7' she started tossing her head spraying spittle everywhere. At 4' she reared up and fell over backwards. Wow.

Once she stood up, I stepped away and gave her a few minutes to calm down. I put the saddle pad down and approached without it. Still that wild-eyed look of distrust, but she let me approach and I have her a pat and a head rub. Then walked away. Approached again. The whites of her eyes were now gone and she was starting to calm. One more approach without the saddle pad, then I picked it up again. But this time before approaching I tried the ancient and traditional Indian Saddle Blanket dance. About 15' away I started dancing around and tossing the pad up in the air, making much fuss and noise as I did. I completely circled around a few times and mostly she just looked at me like I was an idiot. Without stopping I started moving my circle closer and closer until I was about 5' away. She was dancing a bit, maybe in tune to my hiya hiya hoya hi Indian chant. By the way, it looks like it's going to rain. I may be on to something.

At that range I keyed down my blanket tossing and just moved it from hand to hand as I circled. I made an effort not to look her in the eye the whole time, as I did not want to be the predator. I just wanted to be some crazy human chanting for rain. I think I accomplished that. I kept my eyes to the ground (which was more of an effort to keep my klutzy self from tripping than anything else) and eventually made it to her head and stopped holding the pad up to her nose. She took a step back and snorted at me, then stepped towards me again and sniffed the pad. While she was still inhaling the pad smells I backed away and went back to my rain dance at about 10'. This time she was more curious than afraid and even risked life and limb to take her eyes off of me a few times. You never know, the crazy human could have launched a saddle pad attack at any time.

We did this four times. FOUR. But by the fourth time she was bored. She didn't even want to sniff the pad, so I just put it on her back. Simple as that. I gave her a pat and a treat, took the pad off, put it back on. Pat and a treat. Took it off, put it back on. Pat. Took it off, let her go back to eating hay. I'm sure tomorrow I'll only have to do the rain dance three times. Maybe by next week, I'll be rain dancing with the saddle. All I can say, is that I'm thankful none of the neighbors can see our place.

Hunter -- 09/15/08

2008-09-16T16:15:00.000-04:00

Hunter got introduced to the lunge line and lunge whip today. I stroked him all over with the whip and he didn't care. Same with the line. I even threw it all over him and whooped and whirled and he could care less.

I knew tonight would be stressful from past experience with other greenies, so I spent a lot of time petting him everywhere and handling his legs and feet - which he is doing quite well now - so he would still think training is fun. Then we led on the off side to the work area. Previously, I have commented on Hunter's unwillingness to move at more than a mosey. Leading from the off side, I had the lead in my left hand and the whip trailing behind me from the right. When Hunter lagged or stopped, I tilted the whip so that it touched his hocks. He was very surprised and apparently thought someone was back there. No panic, but he sure caught up.

Whenever I start training on the lunge line, I always start out with the off side toward me. Horses tend to try to get their 'trained' eye - the left eye - toward you in unfamiliar situations so they can process the new info from the side they are most used to seeing you. Hunter was no exception.

He easily caught on to clicking/clucking at him. What DO you call that noise, anyway? But to keep moving and not eat grass, well, that required a touch - and I do mean barely a touch of the whip. The purpose of a lunge whip is to make your arms 'long' not to hit. For the first time since I met him, I saw the whites of his eyes. It was not raw panic, just a little spooking. I don't calm a horse when it spooks; that just teaches it that spooking will get it a reward. I don't punish, either; that just teaches it that training is horrible. I merely start over. We needed very few do-overs. Within 15 minutes he understood the rudiments of clicking/clucking, staying at the limits of the line without pulling or swinging the rear out, that walking is a desirable option at this point, whoa/stopping without turning toward me, voice ques, and that the lunge whip points toward the rear but won't necessarily touch.

Poor Hunter, I laugh at him almost every day. I hope he is interpreting it as something non-humiliating. He had the worst time figuring out where this touching was coming from. After he figured out it was me, it was like "hey, how did your arms get clear over here?". I stopped as soon as he was able to walk calmly on the lunge. On this lesson, I never do the near side the same day; too much radical newness for one day in my opinion. I will wait for the next time. I spent the next 15 minutes petting and scratching him in all his favorite spots so that he will still love training.

He is pretty smart. If he continues to learn at this rate, I'll bet this horse is broke by November.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/14/08

2008-09-15T08:09:00.001-04:00

I thought I was going to take today off from training Hunter due to soreness/laziness from the 5 hour trail ride yesterday, but an opportunity presented itself.

Up my driveway, on a 4 wheeler, came a kid. Not just any kid, but a TRAINED kid. I had saddle broke my niece, Veronica, 2 years ago at age 10. Although her mother, my sister, had just sent her over with sutures, I conscripted VV for training. Before going on, I should explain that my sis is a very good nurse, and my prime source of medical treatment due to me working on the farm with very little sense of mortality. In the past 3 years that I have lived across the way from her, I have broken a toe, greenfractured a leg, broken a pinkie, severely sprained 2 ankles and a number of other fairly minor injuries. Having saved me from these perils as well as the latest - cutting the tip of my thumb nearly off with a meat slicer -she forsightedly sent over sutures in case I ever needed stitches. Anyway, she just loves blood and gore so I am making her happy periodically.

I ask Veronica how much she weighs now. "I'm a fatty," she replies, "I must weigh a hundred now." Hmmm... half my size...don't talk about fat to me you little stringbean, I think. She gets a leg boost up bareback on Hunter, who by now is standing quietly tied. I'm glad I have been pulling his mane and otherwise training him for this moment. I am also glad I make new riders learn bareback because this was old hat for her. Hunter was interested, but not startled. He wasn't sure if he should actually walk with her on his back, but we took it easy and he hesitatingly, then with more confidence, moved with her astride. We stopped after only about 3 minutes of this, because he is still growing.

Next it was 'swarming' training. VV listened soberly as I instructed her. "I want you to act as if you have never seen a real, live horse before. Start over there and come at us all excited-like making noise. Then a few feet out , stop and come in quietly like you are supposed to, and pet him. OK? Go." Suddenly this kid comes squealing "A pony! A pony!", windmilling her arms and flopping her legs about. Central casting could not have given us a better actress. I don't know who was more surprised - me or Hunter. I swear if I had been sitting down, he would have jumped in my lap. But he never bolted or was out of control. He clearly trusted me to save him from this dervish if saving was proved necessary. I did my best to act like it was no big deal, but I wanted to laugh hysterically. Where's the video at times like this? We did this a number more times, each time with VV getting closer, and Hunter still somewhat shocked at this bizarre behavior but not misbehaving. Finally, she was able to run straight to him. I had her do it just once more and this time , unbidden, she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his mane. She was smiling like an angel, and he calmly turned his head toward her with dreamy eyes. OK, maybe the dreamy part was wishful hopes for his future, but the rest of the tale is the way it actually happened. I couldn't have scripted it better.

-- Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/12/08

2008-09-13T20:53:00.000-04:00

Turns out Hunter has had another trainer while I have been at work. Scott has been playing with him and draping himself over Hunter's back. He said that he boosted himself over so his weight was supported by the pony for a few moments. Said Hunter skittered a little, but was no problem. I wish I was able to do that, but I am too short. But I can teach him to do it with a mounting block! Kids will need that. I am just shamed that I am not much taller than a 10 year old.

- Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/11/08

2008-09-13T20:45:00.004-04:00

Got to play with Hunter tonight. He is still growing, as his back end is getting jacked up more. His teeth are so short, I think he must be very young. He seems to be suffering no ill effects from having a pink halter, so psychiatric counseling is postponed, dear editor. However he is getting fatter by the day. I wish Ike, the Percheron we are fostering, would gain weight like Hunter.

He did much better on feet balancing tonight. Still a little trouble with the off hind.

I did a lot of handling tonight. He is not keen on getting his tail messed with. I spent quite a bit of time working on this to desensitize him. As usual he didn't care much after I got started, but this will take several sessions before he trusts me. He also got the 'little fingers' lesson: Poked in nostrils (didn't care), ears (cared very little; only after I started simulating future trimming of inside hairs did I get a mild reaction), eyes (no poking, just petting and he seemed to like this) and mouth (now we did get a reaction; nothing violent, just annoyed).

I did more weight training. He likes me hanging over him. He did skitter ever so little when I started pulling his mane, in preparation for mounting. Bet he doesn't care the next session when I do this.

Hunter did get in trouble for the first time. During all the handling training, we discovered he loved to get scratched under the jaw. When I went on to other lessons, he got quite rude with his head in attempts to get me to scratch there more. So I propped my elbow at such an angle that when he started banging his head on me again, he thumped himself. Head rudeness is not acceptable...especially with a kid horse. If he tries this again, he may get a stud chain and let him bang himself as I hold my hand still. I prefer to let punishment be delivered by the horse to himself, if possible. Hey, I don't want to be the bad guy!

He is leading ever so well .... as long as we do the ultra-slow pace. He is starting when I ask (I say 'come here' and then step out), keeping himself positioned beside me, stopping square. That is, on his near side. I worked with his off side, and he was confused - just like he was starting from scratch, but I expected that. He kept sneaking ways to get himself on the 'trained' side. I had to laugh. I have seen this before and it always goes away with handling and patience. Why I am training him for the off side is this: little kids will lead him. Need I say more? Also, there are many times a good trail horse must adapt to either side. Finally, to prepare him for possible sight impairment in his future. Before anyone starts thinking Hunter could be unsound, it is merely a pragmatic step. Our old Appaloosa gelding, Joe, has gone blind in one eye and I am preparing him for the eventuality of total blindness. It sure would have been easier if he had learned leading on both sides at age 2 instead of 24.

If anyone is out there reading this, please send me your suggestions. Especially for this problem: Hunter will not trot in hand. Not even with the come along. He barely will walk at a normal pace. He is fine in the field with the little herd on all his gaits.

Here's Hunter modeling the come-along.

- Anastasia

Tabby -- 09/10/08

2008-09-10T21:23:00.003-04:00

This was only Tabby's second session with me. The first was just to make sure she was sound for work and only lasted a few minutes. Like Megalia, tonight's session was about learning voice commands and seeing what she knows.

Tabby is the only horse so far that seems herd bound. Or I should say, Classy-bound. She and Classy are joined at the hip lately and the whole time I was walking her out to the pasture she was screaming for Classy. Once I sent her out on the circle she quieted down, but it took a good 10 minutes of work at the walk to teach her what a circle is shaped like. Once she got that down we did some trotting, but mostly worked on WHOA, and walk to trot transitions. Tabby still has some weight to gain so I don't want to work her too hard, but I do want to get her used to working and being away from big sister.

Tabby has a really nice head carriage for an ex-harness racer. She kept her head and neck level, even at the trot. And that trot... I just can't get over how this mare moves. Compared to a warmblood or fancy TB she's not that great, but for a STB off the track she's awesome! Glenn was there to watch and is still convinced that she is his new horse. I told him that he may have to fight me for her eventually, but for now I'll let him have his fantasy.

Megalia -- 09/10/08

2008-09-10T21:13:00.002-04:00

Meg was not sound at all on the lunge line tonight. This was only my second session with her, the first one was just to see what she knew and if she was sound and only lasted a few minutes. Tonight I wanted to actually get her working and start teaching her voice commands. I suspected that she may come up lame eventually as the work progressed, because of those hardened tendons on the front. What I did not expect was for the left hind to be the culprit!

I've watched Meg trot and canter in the pasture and she's perfectly sound. But put her on a circle to the left, and that left hind is just funky. It's not even like it's a lameness. It's a little hard to explain, but it's kind of like that leg just won't move correctly. It wobbles with weight and the toe turns in A LOT. There's no visible difference in the way the left hip moves, like there would be with pain. And she had no problems trotting - I didn't have to ask more than once for the trot and I had to ask several times for a whoa. I couldn't find any heat or tenderness from the stifle down to the hoof. I suspect this is an old injury that has long since healed, but left permanent damage.

So Meg will be taking more time off, perhaps even the whole winter. And if it turns out that she can't be ridden at all, I have no problems with having her here as a pasture ornament. Have I mentioned that I love this mare? :)

Jewel -- 09/10/08

2008-09-10T21:04:00.003-04:00

Jewel started this session out temporarily insane. She was afraid of the red lead rope that I'm using as a lunge whip even though it had never touched her. She was terrified of me. She was afraid of the log that she kept aiming for every time she went around. She was afraid of the dogs. She had no clue where her feet were, and even though she was only walking, she tripped and stumbled down to her knees and bloodied her nose.

What the heck?

After the stumble I spent 10 minutes just rubbing her. Getting her used to me again, rubbing the lead rope all over her, and giving her a treat now and then when she relaxed. Every time that lead rope touched one of her legs, she was jumping backwards and showing me the whites of her eyes. I thought maybe she had gotten tangled in something earlier today, but saw no marks or abrasions on her legs. After ten minutes she was walking calmly with the lead rope draped over her withers and bumping her in the legs, and once again letting me walk up to her without backing away in fear.

We did another few minutes of lunging at the walk, worked on WHOA a couple of times, then ended on a good note.

Hunter -- 09/08/08

2008-09-08T22:35:00.003-04:00

After work I came home to play with the pony. Ike has been chasing this little interloper off and on all day. I was hoping they would be best buddies, but Ike is doing exactly as a wild stallion would do...chasing off a potential rival from his little band. It is not vicious, but it saddens me for Ike's sake. The other 2 horses still do not think he is the leader and no one will stay close to him. I am afraid the day is approaching soon that I must insist to his owner that he be gelded and have the vet check if there is any underlying reason he does not gain weight if Ike is to stay with us any longer. But this is Hunter's blog ....I digress.

Hunter was eager to work. Scott bought him a bright magenta pink yearling halter that fits. We walked around without the come along and Hunter kept himself in the correct position very well. We investigated all the scary farm equipment and I made scary noises come out of tanks, etc. Hunter handled it in stride after initial wariness. Scott helped with the scary noises by weed eating fairly close, but apparently this was something Hunter had been accustomed to from the rescue farm.

The thing I was a bit disappointed in was that Hunter would not trot with me. He barely will pick up the pace to a normal walk. He seems to have two speeds: ultra-slow-mosey or run-for-your-life. I will try the come along next time to see if we can pick up the pace.

I introduced him to the training whip today. Mostly I use it to make my arms longer. He did not care about it at all, even when I leaned over his back and waved it about his head. in fact, he seemed appreciative that I had the whip when I was shooing horseflies. I draped my ample self all over him to start weight training and getting him used to having body parts swinging over his back. He was fascinated with this behavior and seemed to enjoy it.

Foot handling went backwards today. On his near side he is fine. On his off side he doesn't like to balance when I have his rear and jerks his foot away. When I took his fore, I thought he would actually lay down on me. That may have been because he was so willing to be manipulated that he might have thought that was what I wanted. Rather than force him, I went back to the near feet so he could be successful before we moved on to another activity. I am going to get the nice rescue lady to look this upcoming weekend to see if there is any medical reason for the hind off side trouble.

More successful leading time, then on to saddle time. I reintroduced the bareback pad to him. I flopped it around and dropped it on the ground, and generally was simulating the troubles/noises that a child might have with a saddle. Hunter did fine. I made sure stirrups flopped and I cinched the saddle tighter today by removing the girth and running the straps through the d-rings. I must get a really tiny girth strap for him to finish this training. He did not mind being cinched at all. More leading with saddle. I may try the English on him next time as easily as he is taking to this.

Once again Hunter seemed interested in the herd as evening approached. We spent about 40min all told playing about. I tried carrots for a reward today and he wasn't crazy about them. He did eat them, but seems to have this "ok, if that is all you've got" attitude. I tried Honeycomb cereal and he did not seem to really understand what to do with them. He shook his head vigorously and spit out about every other one. He gets a day or 2 off as I have to work a double tomorrow.

--Anastasia

Editors note: Hot pink on a palomino paint gelding? The poor guy is going to end up on Dr. Phil one of these years because of that!

Hunter -- 09/07/08 #3

2008-09-08T22:33:00.000-04:00

For Hunter's third and last training of the day, I got him out of the field. He is fascinated with me and apparently humans in general. I hesitate to even say 'catch'.

I rigged what I call a 'come along' to get him to walk properly positioned beside me instead of lagging behind forcing me to pull him. This consists of a strap or rope in a figure 8 ( I used 2" nylon strap) tied on top of his withers where the two loops cross. One loop drops down his rump and just above his hocks on his gaskins; the other encircles his chest. A 'tail' is left tied at his shoulder in such a way as I hold it and tug, thus putting pressure on his gaskins and he 'comes along'. This is a great way to teach babies to lead, especially when you have no help. I have not had this method fail yet. As you walk, hold the lead in your left hand and the come along strap in your right. Walk normally and if the horse lags behind, give short firm tugs..not jerks...to get him where he belongs. It is important you do not change your pace or turn your body toward him as you do this or he will start to get the wrong idea. Hunter responded well to the method, but he wasn't perfect. Perfection can wait for another day.

Evening was approaching and Hunter started showing an interest in joining the little herd. He had not shown the slightest interest all day. This lack of interest will benefit him in his likely future as a singe guy in a child's yard. Speaking of children, I started with the poke and prod training. Little fingers always seem to end up noses, in ears, etc. So we gently started with that. Hunter probably thought I was crazy.

We handled the feet again and he was flawless. I tried to give him apple slices to reward him but he spit them out. And these were good apples. I will have to find something else to give the little epicurean.

--Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/07/08 #2

2008-09-08T14:30:00.001-04:00

I had assumed that Ike, the Percheron stallion we were fostering, had tried to breed little gelded Hunter and that, like any sensible gelding, Hunter had jumped our fence earlier in the day. You know what they say about 'assume'.

Hunter was again on the wrong side of the fence. Another training opportunity. Scott goes to walk the fence while we work.

Back to the truck, more feet handling. He balanced much better, but had the worst time with his offside rear. His near rear has a small problem in the hoof, but that should not cause this. Will be on the lookout. Still not leading as responsively, but it is clear it is from inexperience, not unwillingness.

Towel training revealed he learned well earlier. I was throwing the towel to land on him, simulating a blanket, tugging downward to simulate future loads, tugging upward to simulate future girths. I even covered his head, but he was nervous unless he could see out of one eye. Still, he was wonderful. He actually seemed to be having fun.

So on to the bareback pad. He let it touch him all over then he let me put it on and lead him. I don't have a girth small enough yet, but that will come. He came with me, stirrups swinging, as if his earlier suspicions of the saddle had never happened.

This training was far less than 20 min. No need for more. Scott and I fixed the fence. Thank God I have vinyl or someone may have been hurt. The fence crosses a creek which floods periodically. Last year we learned our lesson when 6 full size trees took out several hundred feet of fence...posts and all. Vinyl does not snap like wire. So we had put in a 'breakaway' section over the creek to avoid this in the future. At least we know it will indeed breakaway. A few minor modifications later all was well. We had one more opportunity to train that day , but I will do another post.

--Anastasia

Hunter -- 09/07/08 #1

2008-09-08T14:27:00.003-04:00

Hunter is staying with Anastasia for remedial training. He'll return to Horse Haven Holler before winter, but for now, Anastasia will be writing his training blog.

I wake up Sunday, get a cup of tea and go out to view my peaceful kingdom with our new addition. There Hunter is, standing beside the fence grazing....the wrong side of the fence. He is calm while I halter him. Guess training will start immediately.

I tie him to the pickup. No real handling problems, but he is not as clear on his ground manners as he should be. He wants to lag behind, and is not always willing to go when I move. I bring out the bareback pad. He doesn't spook, but he shies when I touch him with it. I put it on the tailgate for his inspection while I get a towel.

I love towel training for a new horse. I let them smell it and I rub them with it and they quickly love the towel. Then I start rubbing their legs and draping it over their back, neck and rump. I rarely have any trouble with this step and it is an easy way to prep for the saddle. I flap the towel to make noise some steps away, tossing it in the air and spinning it. After a moment of this I move in with the 'quiet' towel to rub them. I continue this pattern, moving closer until either they get nervous or accept it readily. I always make sure I end on a point that there was no nervousness, for example I would go back out to the point they were not concerned and flap the towel.

Another thing I noticed when I observed Hunter's feet being trimmed the day he arrived was that he was not as nicely balanced as he could be. I worked with each foot, asking him for better balance and positioned him simulating farrier demands.

I have always heard that horses do not have a functional corpus callosum, but even if they do, any horse person knows that whatever you train to one side you have to do to the other. It is like there are two separately functioning brains. Much research is available out there on this. Assume on all of my posts that whatever got done to one side got done to the other.

I also have found that most horses will accept anything that has safely touched their legs. I work up to the leg touching on any equipment I introduce to the horse. Once they are seasoned, they seem to accept that if I bring it, the new thing will probably not eat them and trust me not to get them hurt. Still, even with a seasoned horse, I always provide opportunity to investigate something new.

Always I try to convey the idea that whatever is happening, it is no big deal. I frequently don't make eye contact during these stages and take everything as 'matter of course' - we just are doing routine jobs, the horse and I. It may not be the way others do it, but it works for me and the many horses that I have trained.

This training took maybe 20 minutes. In my younger days, I made the mistake of thinking that once I got a positive response from a horse, I should keep working right then to get improvement. That if a little training is good, a whole lot must be better. Those poor horses. I know I soured some, if not all, by this erroneous mindset. Now, I just try to elicit the first step towards the goal and then QUIT! It works soooo much better and I am always pleased at the next training session how much the horse actually understood.

This was not the end of Hunter's training for the day. But it is enough for one post. I will quit now so I don't sour the reader.

--Anastasia

Classy -- 08/30/08

2008-09-08T11:31:00.002-04:00

This Classy post was long overdue. We took Classy and Kita to Anastasia's for trail riding on the 30th. Classy was nervous and anxious once we got her out of the trailer and had a tough time standing still. But never was she dangerous or mean. It didn't help that the Percheron stallion was making googly eyes at Classy the whole time!

Scott rode Classy, which was probably a mistake, but I didn't realize how green he was. Classy never bucked, but the two of them definitely weren't communicating and I ended up having to pony Classy to get her moving forward. About 30 minutes into the ride Classy was swinging along happy and relaxed. We made a brief stop on the trail and she took the opportunity to drop and roll! Once she was down she gave Scott plenty of time to step off before she tried to roll with the saddle on. When she got back up we gave the horses a break anyway. Anastasia wanted to ride her home, which meant I didn't need to pony her anymore. Classy did great on the way home! When we got back to the farm we tied Classy and Kita up in the shade and left them for about an hour. They were both taking naps when we came back for them.

Classy is turning out to be one very nice horse!

Jewel -- 09-07-08

2008-09-08T10:56:00.003-04:00

The past week has been way too busy and I haven't had time to work any of the horses. Yesterday I managed to escape the phone for 30 minutes, just long enough to lunge Jewel.

Jewel is finally starting to come around and at least pretend that she'd like to be petted and scratched. She follows me around while I'm at the barn and no longer pulls away when I reach out to pet her. Yesterday she felt the need to use me as a scratching post for her right ear. Putting on the halter after that was easy and didn't require a lead rope around her neck to keep her still.

I only lunged her for 20 minutes, but she's doing so much better! She's not as lazy as she was the first couple of times, and is starting to learn voice commands. "Whoa" is the easiest! She's always willing to stop working. She was also more relaxed yesterday, even though she was out of sight of the rest of the herd.

With the way she's improving and relaxing, I'm hoping to be able to back her before November. Anastasia has already offered to take her next spring after she's broke to saddle for "bombproof" training. This will ease my load a bit since I'll have Maverick, Hunter, and Radar to break next summer. Hopefully Jewel will be ready for adoption by the summer of 2009.

Classy -- 08/29/08

2008-08-29T22:07:00.002-04:00

Classy is a 12yo bay Standardbred mare out of Dolly. I've been working with Classy since she was sound and of good weight when she came here. This mare is eternally lazy on the lunge line, but is improving each time. She was saddle broke when she got here and had 4-5 rides under her belt. I got on her tonight and mainly just worked on circles and figure 8's at the walk. She's pretty good with leg cues and has a wonderfully natural head carriage and flexion on a loose rein. She's still nervous away from her sisters and chews on the bit constantly. I think tomorrow I'll ride in just a halter and lead rope to see if that helps her out in the nerve department. She's definitely not the type of horse that's going to take off on me as that would require way too much effort on her part.

Megalia -- 08/29/08

2008-08-29T21:14:00.003-04:00

Megalia is a 19 yo bay Standardbred mare, sister to Classy and Tabby, daughter of Dolly. With Meg I'm also making the assumption that she was on the track before becoming a broodmare. When Meg first got here she wanted nothing to do with us humans. She didn't want to be caught and always hid behind Classy. Within a week she settled in and realized where the food came from. Now she's one of the sweetest horses out there and is always one of the first to come up to you for a head rub or a wither scratch. I love this mare. Just her personality is enough to win me over. Her roached back and hardened tendons don't bother me as long as they don't bother her.

I have a feeling I could probably just throw a saddle on Meg and go for a nice trail ride. She's supposedly not saddle broke, but I don't think that matters to her. This horse is all about pleasing you. Whatever you want this mare would probably do it just to please you.

Tonight's groundwork was more of an evaluation than anything. When Meg came here both front tendons were puffy and starting to harden. Now that the heat and swelling are gone I wanted to see if she'd be sound. Sure enough! Don't get me wrong, she'll never be a hunter/jumper or barrel horse. But she will make someone a really nice trail horse!

Jewel -- 08/29/08

2008-08-29T21:05:00.005-04:00

Jewel did a lot better tonight! It still took a lot of convincing to get her going at the trot, but I felt like she was happier and had more understanding of what I was asking. We worked for 20 min on the lunge line and did a lot of walk to trot transitions and lots of WHOA and stand. The other night when I lunged her for the first time she'd whoa, but if I wanted to walk up to her to change sides she'd try to move away. She did that the first couple of times tonight and I just ignored her and kept coming without pulling on the lunge line. Eventually, she'd stop, sigh, and let me put my hand on her. After the first few times she stopped trying to move away at all. Success!

I lunged her on a bit of an incline tonight to try engage her hind end coming up the hill. Conformationally, she's a bit weak in the loin area so before putting a surcingle and side reins on her I'd like to see some more muscling along her back, croup, and hind end. I'd also like to see her carry her head lower at the trot... right now she carries her head straight up in the air like a lot of TN Walkers I've seen.

I'd like to try long lining her tomorrow, but we'll see how energetic I am. :)

Tabby -- 08/29/08

2008-08-29T20:32:00.006-04:00

Tabby is a 13yo seal bay Standardbred mare, sister to Classy and Megalia, daughter of Dolly. Tabby came to us very thin after an injury to her right hind ankle. The ankle is still very large, but it's all proud flesh and scar tissue now. Tabby has finally put on enough weight where I feel comfortable to start ground work with her. She is not broke to ride, but I'm assuming she was on the track at one point before her broodmare career began and is broke to drive.

Tonight was just about finding out what she knows and getting a better look at how she moves. She's not only sound, but looks VERY smooth too! And she's not nearly as lazy as her two sisters. She had no problems moving off at the walk or trot. Her problem lies more with a lack of brakes. She wasn't afraid or moving fast, she just wanted to keep going in that gorgeous floating trot of hers. I can't wait to ride this mare! I'd like to see another 100 pounds on her before I back her for the first time, so it may be another month or more depending on how she progresses in her training. And I'd really like to have the round pen up rather than backing them in the middle of a 16 acre pasture, but if that's where it has to be then so be it.

I only worked with her for 15 minutes tonight. Just enough to get the her figured out and start working on a plan. Voice commands are totally unknown to her, so that will be first -- especially the WHOA part! And like most all horses off the track, her right side is her stiff side so we'll be doing a lot of lunging to the right.

Tabby is the only horse of the 10 rescues that still has no interest in humans. We can pet her and groom her and she's not mean and has good ground manners. But if you're out in the pasture with the herd she is the only one that will not voluntarily come up to see you. I'm hoping this will change now that she's getting some work

General 08/27/08 - 08/28/08

2008-08-29T09:39:00.002-04:00

There has been no training for the past two days thanks to some much needed rain. All the horses were happy for the respite from the heat and deer flies, but it's back to work on the 29th.

Jewel -- 08/26/08

2008-08-27T14:11:00.004-04:00

Jewel came to us a nervous wreck, terrified of human touch. She was curious about people and would walk up to you for a sniff, but as soon as you reached to touch her she'd turn away. The last couple of months she's just been turned out with the herd, just learning to be a horse again. She has slowly started to come around and now allows us to walk up to her for a scratch and to put her halter on. So last night we began groundwork with Jewel on the lunge line. What a lazy mare! It took a lot of convincing to get her to trot, but once she did trot it was slow and rhythmic. Even when she broke into a gait... yup, Jewel appears to have some gaited horse genes in her some where. As training progresses I'll encourage her to gait as I believe that will be a bonus to a lot of potential adopters in this area.

I only worked with her for about 20 min, mostly at the walk. Her right side is her stiff side, so much of the time was spent going to the right, bringing her in to a 10' circle, letting her out to 15', back in to 10', etc. Not once did she lay her ears back or act afraid or upset.

I've still got a ways to go with her feet. I start at her shoulder and slowly run my hand down her leg, but as soon as I get below the knee she freaks out and jumps back. Once she's more responsive on the lunge line I'll start sending her out to work every time she jumps back. This method worked really well for Meghan who was also terrible about having her feet worked on. But right now, she's such a lazy mare that sending her out on the lunge would be so much work that she may not associate working with the bad behavior.