Jewel – 06/25/10

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. :)

Jewel – 04/02/10

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.

General – 09/19/09

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!

General -- 06/17/09

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!

Jewel -- 09/22/08

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.

Jewel -- 09/16/08

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.

Jewel -- 09/10/08

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.

Jewel -- 09-07-08

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.

Jewel -- 08/29/08

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. :)

Jewel -- 08/26/08

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.