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smartpak: Did you know that your horse needs at least 1 ounce...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:20:12 -0700

Did you know that your horse needs at least 1 ounce of salt and 5-10 gallons of water everyday? Many horses drink less in the winter because of cold or frozen water, but proper hydration is essential for your horse’s well-being no matter what season it is. Learn more about the importance of hydration and how to encourage drinking at http://bit.ly/YtksJi.

Submissions

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:44:51 -0800

I’ve added a new feature to the blog: submissions.

Due to the character limit in the ask box it’s become clear to me that allowing submissions shall be necessary moving forward with the blog, as followers’ input is often called for and has always been welcome.

With that said, the Submit Content button is exclusively for submissions and is not intended for any form of questions or suggestions, which are still to be directed to the ask box.

I would like to make it clear that I do not intend to make this blog submission-dependent as I want it to have a clear voice and not go in every which direction at any given time, but well-written posts following the guidelines set out inside of the submission box are welcome and will be posted either immediately after being read or will queued to be posted at a later date.

Thank you for reading on!
Happy Trails

would you be able to write some grooming tips on getting white horses clean? especially getting wee stains off! thanks x

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:19:00 -0800

Well to be perfectly honest I haven’t yet owned a white horse myself (or anything with more than a sock or two) but from at least the experiences I have had and the experiences of the people around me there’s usually not much a short soak in Quick Silver can’t handle.

Beyond that I would definitely direct you to some posts in the Horse Forum’s grooming section where there is always excellent advice I personally have relied heavily upon over the years. I tracked down a couple of topics with some very helpful responses here:
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-grooming/ahhhhhh-white-horse-grooming-107875/
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-grooming/ahhhh-its-blue-help-107733/
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-grooming/how-keep-gray-horse-clean-107086/
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-grooming/whats-ultimate-whitener-102583/

Hopefully it helps! And sorry that I couldn’t offer more personal experience. If any followers have any good tips and tricks for whitening those white horses, you’re more than welcome to submit them, as well!

Grooming Guides: Bare Minimum Basics

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:05:05 -0800

While carefully hand-picking through a mane and tail and generously coating with coat conditioners are optional grooming routines, there are a few things very necessary to the comfort and well-being of your horse. It is generally not acceptable to simply pull your horse out of the pasture, throw your tack on, and gallop off, because likely he is covered in dirt and God only knows what’s wedged in his hooves. While you don’t have to spend hours a day brushing your horse, make sure that you can properly and confidently do the things described in this post on a regular basis for your horse’s well-being and comfort.

No hoof, no horse. Likely the most important part of grooming is picking out your horse’s feet because you never know what could be hiding in there causing him a great deal of pain. It is important to get a hoof pick that’s easily usable and effective for you and your horse. There are a few different shapes and styles of picks, and the best way to know what works best for you is to just try them out and see what works well.

There is no one way of asking a horse to pick up his feet. Many horses are trained to respond to a variety of cues, and many horses are also just not trained very well at all. You may need to test a few different spots before you figure out what works for your horse and you. The main areas I see used are shown in this diagram:

Begin with your horse standing square with you positioned beside the leg you want to pick up, facing the opposite direction from your horse. Put your hand on the horse’s shoulder or hindquarters, then run it down the leg to the position you are using, then gently squeeze there while clucking. You can also use a cue such as “up” or “foot”. If the horse simply won’t lift the leg, try leaning a bit into him to try to push his weight off of the foot and squeeze a little bit harder. Once he lifts the hoof up, be prepared to grab the bottom (reaching around to the inside with the same hand used to cue) and support the hoof securely, preferably resting part of the hoof and part of the area just above the hoof in that hand.
When you pick out your horse’s feet, be sure to remove all of the debris from the foot, ensuring that you get your pick all the way into the cracks on either side of the frog (see diagram:)

The most important part to know about is the frog, which is a bit more sensitive than the rest of the hoof. People unfamiliar with horses often ask if picking out a horse’s hooves hurts him, and the answer is no (unless the hoof has been severely compromised by infection, poor trimming, founder, etc). You can get pretty aggressive while picking out stuck-in debris, just be mindful of the frog as, again, it is a little bit more sensitive.
In wet weather, thrush can also be a big issue, especially in horses who are stalled or do not do a lot of moving around. Thrush is a fungal infection that affects the frog and can deteriorate it completely with time, becoming very painful. Be sure to check for the number one sign of thrush: a nasty smell that is noticeably different from the way your horse’s hoof normally smells (so be aware of that smell, too). The best way to prevent thrush is with movement and air circulation to the frog. If you have thrush, be sure to apply medication such as Thrush Buster or one of many popular home remedies (my personal favourite is ½ water and ½ liquid Lysol all purpose cleaner for minor cases, consult your farrier or vet about severe cases).
It is ideal to pick out the hooves at least once a day, but at the least be sure to clean them before every ride (and more often if you never or rarely ride), especially if your horse is stalled. Try to also pick them out after every ride if you ride outside of a sand arena. If every time you pick your horse’s hooves they are full of a ton of debris, try to get them done more often. On top of picking the hooves out, be sure that you have a well qualified (not dirt cheap just barely enough to get the job done) farrier and follow the schedule he sets for your horse after regular visits.

The next step to grooming is brushing the body. Minimally you must make sure that there is no debris underneath where your tack and any blankets or sheets will be worn. Make sure you at least physically look your horse over before putting any equipment on him, with care to check underneath (and inside of) the mane at the withers, under the belly where the cinch/girth and back cinch (if worn) will go on both sides, the chest and between the front legs where the breast collar will go (if worn), as well as all around the head where the bridle will be worn. Tiny bits of debris can be wiped away with the hand, while usually the best practice is to just go over the area with a dandy brush (short to medium length, stiff to medium feel bristles):

And a small, gentle face brush for the face. With many horses gentle strokes with a dandy brush on the face are also alright, but it’s generally nicest to stick with a face brush or soft finishing brush.
If there are a lot of mud clods or something else well stuck in the horse’s fur that won’t come out with a dandy brush, you may need to use a metal rake or similar style tool:

Finally we get to the mane and tail. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to brush these all the time. Usually if you prefer not brushing the mane often it is recommended that you keep it short. You can trim it short with scissors (cutting UP into the hair, not straight across as that will always, I repeat, always turn out looking stupid…unless of course you don’t mind him looking stupid!), thin it down with a hair thinning razor, pull it (will post a guide in the near future, but this is the method used to get those short, clean-looking straight across short cut manes, they are not cut straight across as it may appear), or roach it (simply shave it completely down with a clipper, also can be done with sharp scissors or shears if the mane is thin enough). If you desire a longer mane but don’t have the time to brush it carefully or often, that’s okay too, it just will usually look less healthy especially when a lot of tangles are ripped out. Horses don’t generally have a lot of feeling in their mane beds so usually a tangled mane can be quickly brushed out even without detangler, without causing much if any discomfort to the horse. It is still best to try not to pull on the mane a whole lot (especially because you can hurt the neck muscles by pulling the main over too far to the side) and try to hold the hair in your free hand tightly, above the tangle you’re working on, in order to minimize the yanking on his neck. Always start from the bottom and work up. This only really has to be done often enough to keep from getting huge, uncomfortable mats that will be out of hand (if that is going to be happening, just do both of you a favour and roach it.) Just be sure the areas underneath your equipment are tangle free, as bunches of tangles strapped tightly under your saddle can be extremely uncomfortable for your horse.
The forelock can be very sensitive and it is important not to go tearing at that the way you might with the mane. Be very gently when brushing it out, starting from the bottom and going up and again, holding the hair above where a tangle is to minimize pulling on the horse’s head. There is no shame in deciding to shave the forelock off if you know you will not be able to gently maintain it!
The tail is also much, much more sensitive than the mane, despite the way many people will treat it. The good part, though, is that if you need to rip through tangles near the bottom the length of it usually makes it much easier to do so without pulling on your horse’s dock at all. Again, just grip the hair very firmly (the firmer the better) underneath the dock (never including the dock!) and have at it. Do not rip through a large tangle that you can’t shield your horse from feeling, use detangler if needed and even use scissors if necessary. If your horse has a thick tail that you don’t want to be stuck brushing through all the time, there are two options to minimize the stress on both of you. First, you can braid the tail (being sure to leave a long portion at the end for fly swatting if flies are present) to keep it out of trouble. Second, you can thin out the tail rather than banging it (AKA cutting straight across) by basically layering it, cutting it all different lengths all over in a way that appears natural, again, cutting up into the hair rather than cross and staying very mindful of exactly where the tailbone ends. It is best to avoid simply cutting the tail very short unless you are prepared to very thoroughly protect your horse from flies during fly season.

That should about cover it for now, and I’m glad about that as it is a little painful for someone like me to talk about doing only the minimum grooming required! ;) From here on out in this particular series I will be covering random grooming topics in random order in much greater depth, and, as usual, questions and suggestions are more than welcome!

Thanks very much for reading!

Happy Trails,
Manes and Tails

Grooming Guides: Introduction

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:05:05 -0800

I’ve been meaning to start up a series on grooming because it’s a bit of an obsession of mine, in fact I’m a bit addicted. I’m hoping keeping this series ongoing permanently will help give me an outlet and at least something to post up when I’m feeling less inspired about horsemanship writing.

As a kid I always admired horses with perfectly groomed shining coats and long, full, flowing manes and tails, but didn’t own my own horse and also didn’t really have the patience to put much time or effort into grooming so, like many other people, I raked brushes through manes and tails once in a blue moon after they were thoroughly tangled and brushed just enough space for my tack to sit clean against my horse and that was it. By the time I got my own horse I was much older and a lot more patient and finally set out to learn all of the best grooming tricks to blind with my horses’ shine and maximize and carefully protect their mane and tail growth. While, just like anything else I post about here, I’m very far from knowing everything, I would definitely say that with my crazed obsession with grooming over the years I’ve gained a very fair share of knowledge on the subject that I’d like very much to pass along.

I love grooming because not only does it allow for some great quality quiet time along with your horse to help build on your relationship, it can also be very rewarding to see the finished product of your hard work. I take a lot of pride in the way my horses look and go to great lengths to get them looking their absolute best, but grooming can be as minimal or involved as you’d like depending on your preferences and schedule so long as you are able to complete a few necessary tasks, especially when riding.
It is very important to be able to groom at least minimally because leaving a lot of dirt underneath your tack and equipment can be bad for your horse, rubbing and irritating his skin at least and causing actual injury at most. Knowing the right tool for the job and building on tricks and techniques will help to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

It is also worth noting that no amount of good grooming or products can make up for the physical effects of poor equine management and care. The most important step to keeping your horse’s coat shiny and his mane and tail healthy and full is ensuring that he is getting proper nutrition and is on a regular deworming schedule following the seasons and weather in your area (both of which you can always consult your vet about if you’re ever unsure). It is inevitable that a horse who is not getting those things will have a dull, dry coat and a less than fabulous head of hair.

I’m going to kick this series off with a guide covering the bare minimum basics and then let it go in various directions from there.

Here’s wishing you long locks and bright blinding socks as we continue on into the glamourous art of removing dirt and hair from your horse’s coat and applying it to yourself. Stay tuned for the next edition coming soon!

Happy Trails,
Manes and Tails.

Grounded Groundwork: Desensitization

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0800

I covered desensitization very lightly back when I answered this question, but of course there is a lot more to say on the subject. Desensitization is an important element of groundwork, but it is also something important not to overdo. While ideally your horse should not be afraid of any of your equipment, I’ve encountered horses that were desensitized to the point where you could run at them aggressively swinging a rope at them and they wouldn’t budge, which can be a very dangerous situation. You want to be able to use your rope or whip as an extension of your arm- nothing more or less, just an extension for your arm so that you can reach places that would be challenging or even dangerous to go to with your own arm. Using that logic, contrary to a common thought, a whip, rope, or flag is never anything to be actually truly feared by a horse on its own. You want the horse to treat your equipment as a part of you, so if he crosses you, you can use it to correct him. Just as there are times when you might slap a horse for dangerous misbehavior or aggression, you should be able to slap him with a whip or rope because, as stated, it is just an extension of your arm.

Desensitization has several different meanings, purposes, and methods, but they are all closely related. When you desensitize a horse to something, you are getting him used to allowing that object to be in his space and in most cases, to touch him all over his body without becoming fearful, upset, or uncomfortable and simply holding still and staying relaxed but ready to move if you should ask him to do so. The most common type of desensitizing I see done is simply with the same rope or whip used for more active training work (like directing and driving, short lunging, and disengaging) and its purpose is to get the horse comfortable with the equipment as well as getting him used to being touched all over his body in general. It is also common to desensitize a horse to something like a plastic bag (sacking out) because it is something most horses find very scary yet it’s something they will encounter a lot in life. Getting a horse used to being around a large scary object (like a tractor, a river, or a spooky hole in the ground) is also a form of desensitization. You will find that all of these different categories require patience, pressure and release, and a relaxed state of mind. It is extremely important not to become frustrated with your horse during any desensitizing process because that nervous energy only makes the horse feel more anxious and insecure. I would recommend trying to avoid entering into a situation requiring desensitizing work when you’re in a bad mood or feeling short-tempered.

When entering into the process of desensitizing (or any groundwork training, really) I always recommend being in an enclosed space of a reasonably small but functionally large space with a training halter and lead i.e. a rope halter with roughly a 12’ lead. There are times, of course, when that equipment won’t be available at the moment, but just do your best with what you have handy in those cases.
Begin standing away from any walls in the safest ground position (illustrated again here) facing your horse. Hold the lead in your left hand with enough slack that you won’t pull him at all as you move around but tightly enough to control him if need be. This hand should be slightly raised in a defensive position, because if he should come towards you with his front end you will raise this hand and pop him with your palm, aiming for the side of the front of his neck, near his jaw, avoiding hitting the throat or eyes, ears, or delicate nasal passages on the face. If you must strike him in the face, aim only for the cheek. Be prepared to use this, because if he becomes very afraid he may attempt to come over the top of you and you must make it very clear immediately that that answer is wrong and dangerous. Be as aggressive as necessary with this correction without going crazy on him. Remain calm, apply the correction, and then resume casually. As you go through any desensitizing process, you want to have a confident but extremely calm and casual demeanor. You want to send out energy equaling the reaction you want from your horse, which is calm, collected, not the least bit upset or worked up over what’s going on. I’ll often stand with one leg cocked and slouch slightly in order to really thoroughly portray and get into the required feeling of being relaxed, nothing out of the ordinary going on here.

The first example I would like to cover would be desensitizing your horse to your rope (or whip) for the purpose of familiarizing him with it and getting him used to being touched all over his body. For the example I am going to use a rope for simplicity and because it’s my personal preference, but it can only really be properly done with a training lead around 12’ long with a leather popper on the end, so if you don’t have something like that, substitute in a whip for safety and efficiency purposes. While standing in the safe zone with the lead held as described, take the tail of the lead in your right hand and position it so that there is enough slack between each hand to move your hands freely. You want to have a long tail remaining that you can manipulate and throw freely all over the horse. Be careful not to actually hurt the horse at all with the rope, and if you do on accident, stop for a moment, give him a pet and apologize, then causally move on. You do not want to desensitize the horse to being hit, so don’t give any negative reaction for him moving off of that pressure, take a moment to clarify that that’s not what’s being worked on, and move on as though it never happened. In order to help properly manipulate the rope as you intend to, you might want to try practicing on something other than your horse first to get a feel for how to throw it and swing it in a way that won’t cause a hard hit and will travel the distances needed. To get the rope to travel straight and far in a particular direction, begin with it as straight and far BEHIND, in the exact opposite direction, as it can go, then swing or toss the rope to where you want it to go. I often hold the rope lightly in my open hand with it resting on the top of my thumb and ring fingers (the rope would pass underneath the first and middle fingers, not above.) That’s what’s worked for me, but other methods may be more comfortable for different people. Try to get the hang of the proper motion before working on your horse. With practice you can easily toss the whip exactly where you want it then with just a flick of the wrist, pull it back into the optimum position to be thrown again. You will need to work on both your throwing technique and how long you need the tail to be to reach different distances. You want to try swinging the rope around something (I often just used fence posts) so that it lands lightly on top and slowly and gently wraps around the object, then swings back.
For simplicity I’m going to describe this all taking place on just one side of the horse, but it is very important to do this on both sides so that the horse reacts exactly the same way on both sides. I usually advise switching between the sides with each section of the body.

The part of the horse you must always, always start with is the back, near the withers. Horses are generally least sensitive about things being tossed around that area (and if they’re not, they need to be), so it’s the best starting place. Start by gently swinging the rope over the horse’s back, keeping a hold of it still with your right hand. If he gets started or moves away, follow him casually and keep on swinging it over until he makes some kind of improvement, whether it be stopping his feet or lowering his head a bit. The very moment he improves, stop swinging and release all pressure. I would heavily advise a lot of relaxed praise and a lot of stopping, turning away from him, and walking away a few steps without pulling him after you (the ultimate release because there is no pressure on him whatsoever), keeping a hold on the lead but letting it slip through your hands so that you’re not asking him to follow (even though many horses will.) Stand facing away from him for a moment and then calmly turn back to him to start again, with a quick scratch of the withers or whatever else your horse likes or recognizes as praise. That is what I’m referring to when I talk about “walking away” hereafter, and I recommend it after every bit of progress, but it is not necessary to keep on doing if the horse is not making a big improvement, like if you toss the rope over his back for the first time and he stays calm. If that is the case, just move on to the next step immediately.
Continue with the same swinging over the back until he is relaxed (not tense, not flinching, not moving away, head at a calm level, eyes soft) and then try tossing the lead completely over his back (keeping the same hold with the left hand but throwing it as far as you can completely out of the right hand). Once he accepts that, move on to the same steps with his hindquarters. After the hindquarters, try the neck, maybe even allowing the rope to slowly and gently wrap itself once around the neck before swinging back. After that, do the front legs, swinging it around both legs and each individual leg if you can. Swing the rope pretty much anywhere you can think of after that point, be creative, make sure you can calmly toss it anywhere and he will be okay.

When it comes to things like a whip, stick, flag, rake, or even a plastic bag (to be attached to the end of a stick without a tail, I usually use a whip with a very short tail I can use to tie to the handles of the bag, dressage whips or Parelli-style sticks without strings attached also work well), the method is very similar but different in a few ways. First, especially when working with something the horse is very afraid of, offer the item held up underneath the horse’s nose in a non-threatening way for him to sniff at. If he sniffs it, consider that a huge step in the right direction and offer a huge release. Once the item is allowed nearby, begin in the same area, the top of the back, but just rub or pet the horse with it rather than swinging or tapping. Follow the same procedure, giving a lot of release and moving around the horse’s body. With this format it is a lot easier to touch the horse all over his whole body with the stick. Continue just rubbing, do not tap at all, because that is considered pressure that you actually want the horse to respond to. If you are working on a plastic bag I would recommend going through the process with the bag both intact and then again with a hole torn out of the bottom of it because it behaves so differently.

It is a little bit trickier to desensitize a horse a large object like a tractor, water tank, or windmill. The method of approaching this type of desensitization is a lot different because you can not just take the item away as a release, you must move the horse away, and on top of that of course you can’t rub the horse with it. Begin by just confidently yet casually leading the horse up to the object. If he stops, urge him to take a step forward, and if he does, praise him highly and release. Try to encourage him to sniff the object, then lead him away. Try to get him to stand calmly near the object without prancing around or trying to run off, then lead him away. Try to walk around the object, then lead him away. Keep encouraging him to sniff as much as he pleases. Don’t drill it into him, as these things do take time. Walk away on a good note.
If it is at all possible, try to make the object a regular part of his life. The best way to do this is to put it near to where he lives or someplace you can turn him out, if that’s at all possible. Try to lead him up to it and/or past it on a very regular basis. If he’s not totally panicked and torn apart inside over it, try feeding him near it, or try grooming him near it. Being near it on a regular basis alone should be enough to get him used to it after awhile.

Teaching a horse to be comfortable crossing water can be challenging as well. Again, calmly but confidently lead him up to the river, as though you assume he will just stroll through it. If he stops to drop his head, let him, as this is how he is investigating and gauging whether he’s about to step into a bottomless pit. Try to keep him faced up to the water, facing him back up to it if he tries to turn away or gets distracted. When you see progress, lead him away. Try to get him to take a step into the water. Pull and urge him on until you at least see him slightly lift a leg, as this is a solid try. Praise heavily and lead him away. After he is regularly lifting a leg, get him to step in. The exact moment that his hoof touches the water, praise him and lead him away. Build up very slowly in this manner, requiring him to get at least as far as he did the time before each time. Sometimes horses will get scared and hugely regress, flat out refusing to touch on the level they had previously reached. If this happens, just try to get at least part of the way to where you were before, before releasing. Eventually he should walk through.
It also helps a lot to have other horses with you that are familiar with water crossing or are at least braver than your horse. Because of their herd mentality, horses are usually quicker to pick up on these things if they see another horse doing it. In some cases it helps to try to be that other horse for him yourself, but not all horses will see it the same way. Still, do not expect him to charge right through just because another horse did.

Hopefully this does well as a summary of some of the basic principles of the desensitization process and I would definitely encourage anyone to ask any questions at all or request any further elaboration on anything, as well as recommending anything that I didn’t cover. If anyone does so, I will both post it in a new post and add it to this guide.

As usual, thank y’all a ton for reading and bearing with me! Or perhaps horseing with me?

Happy trails,
Buckets and bales.

Grounded Groundwork: An Introduction

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:05 -0800

Groundwork is a very involved topic because there’s just so much to it: so many methods, so many different things to do, different purposes and levels of expertise and pressure, the list can go on. It’s a challenge to try to cover it in a way that’s informative and fair to different methods and frames of mind without going on and on for days. I’m going to try to keep it as brief as I can for now and add to it over time, but please feel free to let me know if there’s any particular thing you’d like me to cover!

Whether you like it or not, groundwork is an important part of any long-term relationship you build with a horse, and anyone who intends to learn about horses really ought to learn a bit about it. Groundwork is a broad term that covers pretty much any work you do on the ground with your horse, from lunging to desensitizing to grooming. Usually the main thing the term “groundwork” is referring to is one-on-one hands-on training on the ground for softness and respect and that is the subject I will be going into during this series. That particular sect involves things like disengaging of the hind and forequarters, directing and driving, desensitizing, and similar exercises, all of which I will cover in the upcoming additions.

The purpose of groundwork is to familiarize yourself with your horse (and vice-versa), to build trust and respect, and to help provide a foundation for things that will be asked for later undersaddle. Doing thorough groundwork will really help in training a horse to lead properly, to load into a trailer, to give a person space when standing at ease, and to move different parts of his body as directed in a relaxed and comfortable manner. When you do groundwork with a horse, you are at his level interacting with him with body language that (ideally) should make clear sense to him following the logic he is born with as a horse. It is a very natural way to interact with a horse and familiarize him with new people and new situations because it most closely reflects the interactions horses make with each other. To properly execute groundwork exercises with a horse, it is important to have some level of understanding of their way of thinking, as covered in Communication on a Basic Level.

How much groundwork is necessary varies widely from person to person and horse to horse. Some people feel that interactions with a horse should always be primarily groundwork with some riding, while others believe it is only important to teach a few basic principals in the beginning and rarely go back to it once it’s been taught. Personally I learn towards doing a lot of groundwork in the beginning but aiming not to need to go back to it often. I always start my horses with a lot of groundwork to get them solid and respectful and get used to each other, but once they understand the concepts I only go back to it if a problem arises, if the horse needs a reminder or a quick refresher course, or as part of new training or familiarizing with a new situation. I always make sure that I can send my horse in either direction easily just by pointing them there, that I can spin them around on either half of their body in either direction with ease, and that I can back them just by motioning to them or laying a finger on their chest and clucking. While some believe in very thorough desensitization to ropes and whips, in an average situation I only ask my horses to be reasonably comfortable having my rope or whip around any part of their body and once they have become comfortable I don’t go back to desensitization unless a problem arises. I do want my horse to respect a rope or whip being flicked at them and move off of that pressure, but I want them to do it without true fear of being hurt by it. I will go into all of these topics on a much deeper level when they are covered.

Overall, as stated, groundwork can be as simple or as involved as you make it. There are horses who require regular reminders, while some will never need refreshing. As with everything else, it’s all about reading your horse and knowing how to respond to his needs in order to accomplish what you need to do.

That’s it for now and in my next addition to this series I will be diving deep into the topic of desensitization. I hope y’all enjoy this series and that you’re having a great new year so far.

Happy Trails,
Buckets and Bales.

Merrigold today :)Happy Holidays everyone!

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:17:51 -0800

Merrigold today :)
Happy Holidays everyone!

I felt inclined to share this post from my main over here too.

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:36:00 -0800

And I also wanted to apologize for the big gap in posting again. Things have been very strange. But I’m working on material mentally all the time. Thank you all for bearing with me.

I’ve been trying to brainstorm for this post for a very long time, and I’m at a loss of what to say.
It’s been a long time since I’ve needed to figure out what to say about something so incredibly important and meaningful to me.

The death of a horse is so strange and awful and confusing. To look a horse you would think he was invincible, immortal…and to know him, only more so.
Then to look at a horse who’s been through hell and back, who’s not just seen but felt the merciless hand of more hate and anger and disgusting outright unprovoked cruelty than you can possibly imagine, and lived through it, even if only by a thread…then think that he could really actually die one day, something on earth could be the end of him one day, it’s a weird feeling.
(Click Read More for the rest)

He may have been a shell of a horse when we met him, and he may have never recovered, but I don’t think I will ever meet a stronger horse than him. Years and years later you could still see the whip scars all over his body, but you didn’t even need to see them to know, all you needed was to look in his eyes. It was unmistakable. And the fear in him, every muscle in his body tense, shaking, head to toe, eyes wide, but even worse, that look of acceptance, when you could see him brace himself and drop his head and all of the life would leave his eyes and his mind would shut down completely, no fight, no flight, anticipating the beating he was so used to receiving if he did one little thing wrong.
But despite that, despite everything, he was still willing to try his best for people and finally even to trust, maybe not completely but nearly, to latch onto somebody and bury his face in their arms when he was afraid and feel hope to maybe be protected from harm.

He came from his hell into a questionable home, people who cared for him but didn’t understand him, couldn’t help him. That was when we met him. My mom was terrified of horses, and she was trying to learn but she was still just so nervous and jumpy and distrusting of them. I was riding my horse at our new stable and she called out for me to come, “Look at this horse, do you see that?” I thought certainly something was just wrong with him or something, I asked. She said no, just did I see that, in his eye. I looked. “Poor old guy…” Those eyes made you want to cry. I think my eyes might have teared a bit.

We would reach to pet him and he’d back away, suspicious eyes. We would hand him carrots and he would cautiously take them, then back away again. Always full of fear. I looked at his stall plate. “Look, he’s for sale,” I said, joking. I was joking.

Time passed and I helped her out and we worked with him. He was so sweet, so kind and gentle, just so scared, so full of fear, and in the right light with his sleek summer coat on you could see all of those scars, all down his sides, all over his chest and his hindquarters. The first time I caught him in that light my eyes went wide, and it was all I could do, just hug him. It’s not that I was shocked, it’s just an unreal thing to see when you know how thick skinned a horse is, how hard it is to break their skin let alone leave scars that would last for so many years.
It was clear my mom had fallen in love with him. I watched an amazing relationship beginning to form, they both would get so fearful but they both were learning to trust, they just had this understanding, it was amazing. I kept trying to convince her to buy him, what if he just got sold to some random person or worse, and we might never see him again. We even heard talk that they would consider selling him back to who had him before. But she didn’t have the means just yet, there was no way it was going to work just then. Maybe soon, but not yet.

But just as things started to fall into place and we could make it work, his owners couldn’t wait any longer. He was sold, and his fate was implied. I knew exactly what had happened, I could feel it, but she doubted it, she still didn’t yet have the means to buy him, she wanted to believe they wouldn’t do that and he had a good home. But I could feel it.
I remember so clearly the day before he was getting picked up, since he now belonged to the new owner we weren’t supposed to handle him anymore, but how could we respect that? I remember rushing into his stall and throwing my arms around that big warm neck and holding onto him like I was never going to let go and crying into his fur for a very, very long time. I remember telling him I was sorry, I didn’t want this for him, it’s not right, and I would do anything I could to help him, he deserved better. He deserved so much better. I don’t know how I pried myself from him when I knew what was going to happen to him after I did. I wanted to wait there and insist that they couldn’t have him. But really, in reality, what could I do?

The second he left I felt ill and I couldn’t sleep through the night until this was made right. I begged and pressed for us to go out and try to find him, to go drive by the place he had come from and try to find their number, ask them if they have him, offer to buy him back for more, just get him out of there. I just knew he was there. It took something like two weeks to track him down. When we called we were informed that they would be glad to work something out and we were lucky that we called just then because he was going to be headed out “on the truck” (code for to a slaughter house) that weekend, and we had called on a Thursday or Friday if I’m not mistaken.

He was dropped off the next evening. We had arranged a time for the exchange and come early but when we arrived he was already dropped off and the asshole was waiting outside with his truck and trailer all ready in position to leave as quickly as possible. We didn’t get the chance to see Buddy before we gave him the check, just confirmed with the BO that he was there and then made the transaction. Asshole couldn’t drive away fast enough.

Buddy was standing nervously tied to a post, alone in the dark in a hideous, shabby halter and lead, no resemblance to the nice, fully intact one he was sold with. He looked like he hadn’t eaten two bites the entire time he was gone and he was lame as I’ve ever seen any horse. Beyond that, he was absolutely horrified of absolutely everything everywhere, not an ounce of exaggeration. He looked at us as though he had never seen us before and we were there to hurt him. We were careful and gentle with him and got him settled in. It was so relieving to know he was safe, and no one could hurt him anymore…but it took months to undo the damage that short time there did.

He would barely touch food for weeks after arriving back. He had constant diarrhea because absolutely everything made him so nervous. My mom kept at it and stuck with him, eased him back into regular routines, reminded him that it was okay, and that now it would always be okay. Finally he started eating like normal and acting more like he used to, and the lameness subsided a little bit but after that it never improved completely.

After awhile I tried working with him a bit…tried to get him used to normal horse things, like ropes and whips moving near him, I didn’t want him to have to live with that fear, I wanted him to learn that it was the person on the other end that mattered and that we weren’t going to hurt him with them, I was very determined, but it never improved even the slightest bit. I also tried to get him used to being ridden. No matter how regularly he was ridden, he would still always go tense and shake when he saw the saddle coming and prance nervously for the first few rounds before calming down. Every time he was ridden it didn’t take long for him to calm down and then he’d be fine (as fine as he ever was), but the stress it put on him to get there was enough that he was only ridden a handful of times after I stopped trying with that. He never did trust me anywhere near as much as he trusted her, either, so once she didn’t need as much of my help I let them be.

Over the years I watched her become a very respectable horsewoman I have even sought advice from a few times which I would never have anticipated before. I’ve been able to entrust her with the care of all of my own feisty little demons even at their worst. I’ve seen her develop an impressive level of horse sense and an increasing actual desire to really ride and move forward with horsemanship, and it’s all been because of Buddy who simultaneously became more and more confident and just a little bit more normal. He never did settle down completely, but he settled as much as was possible for him, and it was a truly beautiful thing to see them. Towards the end they moved over to our friend’s stable and continued working wonderfully together.

But he was old, and it was only a matter of time. He started that slow decline and we all saw it. I went out to see him one day and he could barely walk, and I gave her the talk. We’d talked about it a lot, but this time it was pretty clear it was it.

So we all came out early on an unseasonably clear, sunny morning and showered him with cookies and treats. I braided his tail and mom cut it. I stayed with him as everyone went about sorting everything out and kept it together for the most part, but before the vet arrived when I had a moment with him all I could do was wrap my arms around that big, inviting neck again and bury my face in his fur and cry for him, but any of us could only be so sad when we were just so happy for what we’d been able to do for him. This was what he deserved, he didn’t deserve to live his whole life in pain only to be thrown on some truck with a bunch of other rejected horses and die such a horrible, loveless way. He deserved to learn what love and friendship and trust were, get spoiled and loved on and pampered by someone who understood and cared for him and only meet with people who would love him, and spend the last hours of his life being loved on by familiar people who he trusted and go peacefully in a grassy field with soothing voices in his ear.

I’ve never really seen death before, so it was the strangest place to start, to see the strongest example I could meet of the strongest animal I know lay down and go cold.

Later we released a balloon in his name and we all watched it go for a long time. Everyone eventually lost sight of it except for my mom. It drifted so slowly all the way up that everyone was watching it for a pretty long time, but she was there probably about twice as long as anybody else was, just watching the sky in silence as it floated gently, gracefully into heaven.

(Reposting from my main)

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:24:16 -0800

(Reposting from my main)

Let's Talk Lunging! Part 3: Behavioral Issues (Advanced)

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:00:00 -0700

As I know that there’s been a pretty big break since my last installment of Let’s Talk Lunging, let’s take a moment to refresh our memories. I will be adding in links for quick, easy access to these previous lessons.

During our first coverage of lunging, we discussed one lunging behavioural issue with this question: My horse stops randomly while lunging and refuses to move off again, what do I do?.
During our first official installment of this series, we discussed how to lunge a horse who has already been trained to lunge.
During Part II, we touched on training a horse to be lunged.

That brings us to Part III, where I will discuss some more behavioural issues that may arise when lunging your horse. Anyone is also welcome to submit more problems not covered here, and I will answer them in a new post as well as adding the new content to this post.

As you read on, please keep in mind that no major problem can be solved in a day, and many problems can take a whole lot of time and energy to correct. This advice is meant to be taken and used over a span of time to correct these issues.
I would also like to say that if you try one of these methods (or any of the methods I post here) and have no luck, I would be more than happy to do the best I can do give you advice on a different approach, as I usually have a bit of an arsenal for any problem but will only post the methods that have been the most successful for me.

Help, my horse keeps coming in too close to me and crowding me!
Having your horse too close to you can cause all sorts of problems when lunging. No only might you feel crowded, but it will also limit things like the speed your horse can reasonably go, and most importantly it can be dangerous for both you and your horse. A horse who is too close to you may suddenly decide to kick out playfully, and you might just happen to be right in the path of his hooves. I have also had horses decide to take off while moving in a somewhat tight circle around me, only to slip and fall all the way to the ground.
For this problem I would most advise starting in a round pen without a lunge line (if possible), with a lunge whip. I like to teach my horses the cue “Out” to mean back off, essentially, to move away from me and lunge in a larger circle. I begin teaching this cue when the horse has come uncomfortably close. I want to apply pressure mostly to the horse’s general belly area and the back portion of the shoulder. Basically your focus should be right before the area that would make the horse begin to want to stop or change direction. The area we are focusing on should still be behind the driving line, but forward enough to be clearly distinguishable from a cue to speed up.
Begin by telling the horse “Out” clearly, while gesturing towards that area with the whip. Get a feel for it, because if you focus on an area too far forward on your horse he may slow down, stop, or turn around. We want an even middle area between where you would focus to stop him and where you would focus to ask him to speed up. Chances are, pressure applied properly to this area will initially make him want to speed up, but in the beginning you can ignore that part. Focus solely on him continuing in the proper direction without slowing down or appearing very confused, while moving AWAY from the pressure. As with most things, begin by applying light pressure (the verbal cue and a swish of the whip in that direction), followed by more pressure (the verbal cue repeated, with a more vigorous action of the whip, while leaning into/moving towards the proper area), and eventually if there is no correct response, apply firm pressure (aim to hit that area of the horse with the tail of the whip, of course, for clarity’s sake, never beating or trying to cause actual harm to the horse). Whenever it is that the horse even begins to move away from the pressure, remove the pressure completely and praise him excessively. Continue doing this over time and eventually your horse should have no longer crowd you.

Help, my horse takes off when I want him to go slow!
We’ve all been there. You calmly ask your horse to walk off and he channels his inner wild mustang, taking off wildly galloping around you in a dizzying circle and no amount of “Easy boy”s or “Woooah there”s will slow him down. This issue shows disrespect, lack of self control, lack of ability to utilize energy appropriately, as well as exercising your horse improperly (eventually building freakish imbalanced muscle-yuck, look at that ewe neck! And builds his stamina until he can run madly around you all day without tiring) and putting him at risk of hurting himself trying to run so hard so fast in such a small space (I had a gelding put his leg through the bars of the fence at a full clip doing this, obviously destroying the fence and nearly breaking his leg). So, how do we fix this?
The first thing that you absolutely must do is remain calm and collected. Shouting, getting angry, getting nervous, etc, will only worsen this problem. What you want to do is teach the horse to engage his mind before his legs and utilize that energy productively. In the beginning, start your lunging session with the goal in mind of getting the horse to walk calmly in a full circle in both directions. When he takes off, ask him to slow down by cooing “Easy”, “Walk”, “Trot”, etc, and maybe backing up a step. If he does not slow down at this point, consider it a fair warning and cut him off. Do whatever is necessary to make him stop in his tracks- NOW, and go in the opposite direction. This may be simply asking him, or it may be running half of the way in front of him while swishing your whip out in front of you and pointing in the other direction. A slow response is not acceptable, make sure that he pulls the fastest stop he can manage and does a 180. As soon as he is turning around, drop your energy completely and expect him to go off in the other direction at a slower pace. If he immediately takes off in the other direction, then immediately cut him off and repeat until he moves off at LEAST a gait slower. Only let him continue moving forward if he is maintaining a slower speed. The second he begins picking up speed again, cut him off again. Eventually he should go around nicely and because you are being so unyielding, he should more willing to listen to what you have to say. I am always sure to utilize the calm “Easy” or similar, because after working on this for awhile, that cue should be able to help settle him down anytime he starts to get worked up.
Once you’ve clearly established this work with your horse, you should eventually be able to proceed with normally lunging your horse and regain control of his gaits. Continue to use this same method of teaching him to slow down anytime he starts going faster than you’ve asked him to go.
Lastly, keep your horse’s needs in mind. He is not a robot, but a wild-hearted living creature with a natural desire to stretch his legs on a regular basis. Once you’ve well established with your horse that he must only go as fast as you ask him to go, be sure to allow him to dispel that excess energy. Properly warm him up, then specifically ask him to run, then let him, as long as he remains under control. Keep his mind engaged throughout the entire session by asking for changes of pace, gait, and direction. Be sure to cool him down properly if he runs really hard.

Help, my horse won’t go faster/pick up the lope/canter!
Lazy horses. You come at them with all you’ve got and they just won’t pick up anything but a slow, half-assed trot. Honestly I’ve found one way and one way only to get a horse who is genuinely being lazy and unresponsive to actually learn how to consistently listen to a cue to pick up pace. Sometimes things have to be on the messy side in the beginning in order to become smooth and soft.
When I’ve had horses who were seriously lazy, just being defiant in not wanting to move off, I’ve had to initially be somewhat forceful with them. I begin asking nicely but confidently, applying firm pressure with my verbal cues, body language, and whip (kiss, lean in and stare at the hindquarters, flick the whip), and if the horse ignores this cue and you know that he knows it and is simply not feeling like speeding up, at this point I would REALLY get after him. Run at him and aim to really crack him in the butt with the whip, raise your energy high and be very firm, then as soon as he picks up the gait, bring your energy right back down and release the additional pressure, with enthusiastic praise, but don’t become to calm that he immediately slows down. If he slows down anyway, ask him nicely again, then repeat.
Don’t expect huge improvements right away on this one, but just try to get one circle (or even take a half circle if you have to), then MAKE SURE that you are the one asking him to slow down. Absolutely never allow him to get away with breaking gait on his own, because this is exactly how this problem develops. Stay on top of this and eventually, with patience and consistency, it should be much easier to get him going.

Help, my horse bucks/rears/kicks out at me/etc.!
This may or may not be a problem depending on the context, the person, the horse, etc. At a certain point it is a matter of opinion whether a buck during a good lunge is a sign of disrespect or just something horses do.
Personally I don’t have a problem with a horse exuberantly tossing a few bucks out during a good run, but if it looks like he’s aiming at me or doing it out of resistance, he’ll be in trouble. To me, it’s just a horse thing to want to jump around a little bit at the gallop, especially when they haven’t been out in awhile, but a lot of people also feel that it’s never acceptable for a horse to buck while working with a person.
Regardless of the situation, if your horse is bucking or kicking out when you don’t want him to, it’s as simple as the commonly used phrase, “Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult”. When your horse bucks, immediately cut him off and change his direction, then send him off quickly in the opposite direction, really make him work for a minute, then ease off. Doing this anytime he bucks should, in time, stop the bucking. If it doesn’t seem to be helping, try being even firmer and working him even harder.

Help, my horse is ignoring me!
A horse who is ignoring you is obviously not respecting you at all. No matter what you ask him to do, he goes on prancing around with his head in the air. The reason he doesn’t listen to you is because he doesn’t think you mean business and does not see you as his leader in that moment.
The first thing I would highly recommend in this situation would be establishing some basic groundwork with him. I don’t believe I’ve gone into the methods of groundwork that I DO do, so I will try to cover that very soon in another post. In the meantime, I personally highly recommend at least the basic concepts of what Chris Cox uses, modified to your comfort level as I know he can be very firm.
The next thing I would go into would be just showing him that you do, in fact, mean business. Raise up your energy level and find things that you can make him do. Make him change direction over and over, get after him until he changes his gait, make him do whatever you can think of until he is listening and keeps at least one ear solidly on you, then release all pressure, turn around, and back off completely…and I bet you’ll hear him licking his lips, maybe even inching up to you. You may find yourself running around flailing your whip a lot in the beginning, but in time you should see progress. Anytime you can direct your horse to do something and have him properly oblige, you are building his respect for you and teaching him to see you as someone who really can lead him.

Help, my horse won’t stop!
This problem should be handled very similarly to the horse who takes off/will not slow down, so please read that procedure and modify it accordingly. First, ask him to stop by telling him “Hoooe” or “Woooah” and bringing your whip over in front of him, backing up or whatever else is part of your chosen cue system. If he does not oblige, change his direction firmly, then ask again and repeat. Eventually, instead of taking off in the other direction, he should stop. When he does, praise him excessively.
Another approach would be to back up and move slightly in front of him until he sort of has to stop.

Help, my horse is afraid of the whip!
The way that a proper horseman should see a whip is as literally an extension of the arm. Even though you may deliver him a firm smack in the neck if he tries to bite you, you don’t want him to be afraid of your hands. The same thing goes for the whip. It is a tool used to communicate with the horse, not a weapon. You do not want your horse to see the whip as a weapon and go flying in the opposite direction when he sees it coming.
Rule #1: Do not try to scare your horse with the whip in order to make him do things on a regular basis. Don’t make it make a huge crack just to get him to walk off just because it sounds cool. Don’t run at him and chase him down unless you’ve already asked him nicely. Don’t go whipping on him just because he doesn’t understand something or as soon as he doesn’t listen perfectly. Always ask things as gently as possible, then follow them up with firmer actions.
If your horse is simply afraid of the whip despite your proper handling of it, work on desensitizing him to it. I went into a lot of detail about desensitizing horses to objects in this post. Modify that slightly to accommodate a whip. Start by letting the horse sniff the whip, then, with an extremely low energy level, barely looking at the horse so as to not make him think that you are cuing him to do something, slowly and gently swish the whip so that it drapes over his back, then pull it off. Be gentle, but don’t act as though you’re trying to sneak something on your horse as this will only make him nervous. Continue doing things like this until he will stand calmly and comfortable to have the whip thrown over anywhere on his topline, around his legs, or let it touch him anywhere on his body. I will go into even more detail on this process when I cover groundwork, as well.

Help, my horse charges me!
This is obviously an extremely serious and dangerous problem, and a horse who behaves this way should never be in the hands of someone inexperienced. You should be able to be absolutely certain that your horse is charging you, and if you’re not, get help. Do not mistake simply mildly crowding (also a problem but not nearly as serious) with actually aggressively coming at you at a fast speed with ears pinned and dominant body language.
There is only one thing I can advise: if he comes at you aggressively, whack the crap out of him. I don’t care if that sounds mean, this behaviour can kill or very seriously harm a person. A horse displaying this behaviour must be taught immediately, as firmly as possible, so that it absolutely will not happen again. It should not take more than a small handful of times (if that) correcting this in order to get the point across. If he comes at you, come towards him too, as aggressively and confidently as you can, and aim for the shoulder with your whip, as hard as you can. If you are not comfortable doing this, have somebody else do it. It is completely unacceptable to do anything else in this situation.

Hopefully this guide is helpful to some of y’all, and again, suggestions are always welcome!
That ought to be it for my official lunging series, though there may be follow up questions answered, suggestions met, and ideas had. I’m gearing now towards the aforementioned post about groundwork and will try to get that out in reasonable time.
In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying the last bits of clear weather (if you’ve still got it, that is) and ready for this coming winter. My mare is certainly starting to look ready with her fluffy winter woolies on! All the more to hold way too much sweat with, if you ask me, lol. But I’m still glad she’s got it!

Thanks for your time and love for the magnificent horse,
Happy Trails

Here is my little lady all dressed up for Halloween (it came...

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:42:13 -0700

Here is my little lady all dressed up for Halloween (it came early at our barn!)
She went as Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (shown in the fourth picture).

Here’s a close-up of the apples on her bum. I wish they were brighter, but I guess I had the wrong kind of paint. I still think she turned out nice though!

Here’s Merry and me working on minding the hackamore the...

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:14:13 -0700

Here’s Merry and me working on minding the hackamore the other day. She’s doing so well!

I’m hoping someday I can get a good video of how we’re going these days! I’d love to show her off, she’s such a joy.
I put my girlfriend on her for the first time the other day, she’s never really ridden a horse or even really been around them before. I’ve been trying to get a hold of a horse that I can actually trust with her, but it’s gonna be a long time for Merry…I do feel she’s fine if I lead her and just walk them around, though. She really did do great with it, she gave me kind of a look saying “WHAT are you doing?” as she slid into the saddle, but she behaved very well and minded me well. I think it was really good experience for both of them! I wish I had grabbed a picture.

Hi, I am not a very experienced rider as I have only been riding for a year. I absolutely LOVE horses, and would do anything for one of my own, but can't as i live in the city :(. I was wondering, how do you know if you are on the right lead, when cantering? I think thats what its called, lead?

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:43:57 -0700

Yeah, that’s correct =)
It’s a little tough to tell at times. It took me a long time to learn without having a trainer handy!

Definitely the best way to get the hang of it is by having a trainer or anyone else who would know just work with you on it and teach you about the footfall, what to look for, then what to expect, then what to feel for. At the least, someone has to be there to help you who can pick up on what feet are moving at what time.

You need to be on the lead of the OUT side of the way you are going. So if you are going clockwise, you would need to be on the left lead, which is where the left hind leg moves first, then the left front and right hind move together, then the right front, then of course the opposite of that when you’re going counter-clockwise.

It would help most to start by getting a feel for which legs are moving at all of the gaits. Have someone on the ground watching as you ride. Walk off, and have them call out which leg is moving at what time. Then, after they’ve stopped calling them out for awhile, without looking down, try to guess which leg is moving until you get a good feel for that. Do the same again at the trot. Once you feel you have a good feel for where the horse’s legs are as you ride, move up to the canter. See if you can guess, then have the helper shout out which lead you’re on. Get a solid feel for the way it feels when you are on the correct and incorrect leads, if possible. Some horses will rarely pick up the wrong lead, but I’ve ridden horses who would only ever pick up one lead, so changing the direction you’re going in on a horse like that would be a good way to feel that. If the horse you ride is great with their leads and lead changes, just keep working on getting a feel for which leg is moving at what time and hook onto the feeling of being on the correct lead until you know the gait so well that you will just be able to feel when it’s not right.

It’s kind of difficult to describe the feeling of being on the wrong lead, something just feels kind of out of sync as the horse is having to move oddly to compensate for turning in one direction when their lead should match the other.

Hopefully this helps! =)

What would you most like me to cover next?

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:30:50 -0700

Should I continue with the next part of Let’s Talk Lunging, begin my upcoming grooming series, or cover something else? I’m all ears, readers! I’d always love some input

Also, as always, my ask box is always open to questions, suggestions, input, etc.

Happy Trails!

The Basics: The Golden Key to Teaching a Horse Anything and Everything

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:13:55 -0700

I’m gonna go a little ways into a pretty simple but extremely important concept that we’ve probably all heard at least a little bit about, though most likely you’ve heard a lot about it and use it every day: Pressure and Release.

If you’re not familiar with exactly what that means, it refers to applying pressure to your horse in any form (which I’ll go into in a moment) and then completely releasing all pressure once the horse does what you want, or at least gives it a good try. I can’t think of anything more important to fair, successful horsemanship than proper application of pressure and release.

It is often said that the one thing a horse wants more than anything in the world, more than any leisurely trail ride or any flake of hay or sweet treat or scratch on the withers, is to just be left alone. I’ve found this to ring very true, even about the most hard-working and eager to please horses. All horses recognize the release of pressure as a reward. No matter what you’re doing, you must always be sure to give your horse a break when he is doing the right thing- and this goes for everything you do both in and out of the saddle.

Pressure can be a whole lot of things: a light pull on a rein asking him to turn, a hand pressing against his chest asking him to back up, a kiss or cluck, or even dominant body positioning and a raised energy level, like when you might lean in towards his hindquarters and stare with squinted eyes at his butt with a slightly raised energy level to ask him to speed up while lunging. Any cue you use to ask him to do anything involves pressure. In fact, even just standing close to him or sitting on his back is a form of mild pressure: if you are close to him he must be prepared to respond to whatever you ask; if you are on his back he must carry you and be prepared for work. If a horse does not feel at least some form of pressure, he will not do anything.

Release is simply the undoing of whatever pressure was being applied. If you were pulling on a rein, the release is the moment that you give back the slack in that rein, or when you stop clucking after he picks up a trot. I often use a swift dismount and loosening of the girth as a reward for doing something perfectly when asked while riding- if I’m ready to end the ride. Walking away from the horse and not looking at him for a few moments during groundwork is also a common release of pressure when he is doing very well (though often an obedient horse will immediately follow after you). If a horse does not feel at least some level of release, he will likely not learn and will remain tense and weary, unsure of himself and waiting for relief. He may start doing the right thing, feel no release, then try different, eventually potentially dangerous things in order to try to escape the pressure.
The release must also suit the task. If you are asking something simple, you probably don’t need to finish your work with your horse for the day just because he lifted a foot to back up. But equally, if you are really asking a lot of him and he is trying hard, give him a solid break. Just walk away for a few minutes, let him relax and breathe before going at it again (and don’t drill him, either! Once he gets it, move on and work on it again the next day). If you’re in the saddle and he’s working hard and doing his best at what you ask, stop him in the middle of the arena and let him catch his breath, you both could probably use the breather anyway.

One simple example of the utilization of pressure and release in training is teaching a horse to back up when you touch his chest and apply slight pressure. You would begin by touching his chest and slowly increasing the pressure to a you-really-can’t-miss-this level (pressure), and holding it until he lifts a foot, then immediately removing it and praising him (release). You would slowly work up until he would take a few steps back. Slowly, you apply less and less pressure and expect him to take more and more steps. My goal is to lay my two fingers on my horse’s chest, applying no additional pressure, and have him step back until I remove my fingers.

One more advanced example of pressure and release in training is teaching a horse to neck rein who already knows how to direct rein. You would begin by introducing the pressure from the indirect rein by laying it over his neck as you pull the direct rein. Once he was used to that type of reining, you would wean him off of the direct rein completely by simply laying the indirect rein over the side of the neck without pulling the direct rein at all (generally using the same motion as you would with a trained horse, but exaggerated a bit by moving your hand over further), applying seat and leg pressure, and waiting to see if he responds to that rein. If he doesn’t respond, no problem, just add some extra encouragement by kicking and pulling the direct rein simultaneously without removing the indirect rein. If he does respond, drop the reins and praise him.

One other advanced example of the use of pressure and release in training is teaching a horse to move off during lunging simply by pointing in the direction you want him to go. Start, again, my adding the cue to your regular cue, then wean him off of it similarly to the neck reining. When he has stopped and is facing up to you, simply point in the direction you want him to go (pressure). If he does not go, follow up with a flick of the whip or verbal cue with pressure on his hind end. Once he moves off when you point, immediately remove your hand from the pointing position and verbally praise him happily.

As you can probably see from these examples and from personal experience, timing is the biggest factor in using pressure and release with your horse. You have to release at the exact moment that the horse is doing the right thing, no sooner or later. If you put a hose on your horse and he runs away, you have to follow him with the hose and keep the water on him until he stands still. At the very moment when he thinks: Stop, you must take the hose off. If you wait a split second too long, he will probably start moving again. If you take the water off of him because he is moving and acting frightened, he will come to understand that the correct response to having water sprayed on him is running away with his head in the air.

Different things you will ask your horse to do will require different levels of timing, but it is always best to work on getting the best timing you can. If a particular issue requires absolute perfect timing, try getting help from a friend or putting off taking on that issue until you’ve worked on your timing with easier things and can respond quickly enough. Believe it or not, no matter how slow you are now, with practice you really can cut your reaction time down to the minimum. Just keep at it and soon you’ll be reaping the rewards of a soft, willing horse who is quick to learn and eager to please, because he understands that when you’re happy, he gets to be happy, too. No matter how much your horse loves and likes you, a horse is always looking out for Number One, and he’s not going to do everything you ask unless you offer him happiness and relief in return.

I hope you all have had a fantastic summer and a successful show season this year!
Thanks for reading, and happy trails.

Do you think that it is possible for a gelding to be jealous of another horse? Because the other day I was on my 3yo, Dundee, that i broke in 6 months ago and he hasn't had another rider on him. my dad wants to, but i think he's too heavy for him at the moment. Anyway, i was in the round yard with Dundee and 1 of my 6 year old geldings. i rode blaze in front of Dundee and Dundee went nuts and was lunging at blaze. I quickly jumped off and Dundee just walked up to me and was calm. Jealousy?

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:25:04 -0700

Hmm…has Dundee ever shown any signs of aggression or dislike towards Blaze in general? Are they out together?
I haven’t personally had a horse who was legitimately jealous in that way, but personally I wouldn’t rule it out if the two are normally fine with each other. Also I’ve observed horses becoming upset with a horse only when he was moving at faster gaits, so one thing to test it with may be to try lunging Blaze near Dundee and see if he responds the same. It also may just be that he’s jealous of anyone getting to go out and do exciting things, so you might try sending someone else to ride another horse near him and see what he does.

If the only difference turns out to be when you’re riding, well, some would disagree but I’d say you very well may have a jealous horse on your hands. Of course this is all only opinion though, because so many invisible factors play out. It’s an interesting thought!

Trust.

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:15:00 -0700

I’m not sure it’s something my mare is previously familiar with at all. She has never been trusted, and so she has never trusted anyone in return.

I’ve found that serious problem horses are the ones who need trust more than any other type of horse on Earth. Even if there are times I come to know that my horse is going to buck or what have you, I still have to keep trust in her. Each time my horse falls out of line, a little bit of my trust is lost, but each time I place her back into line it re-instills even more trust than was present before. When I correct her, I am also looking her in the eye and telling her “Look, now I’ve made this as clear to you as possible, and you’ve thoroughly shown me that you now understand, so from now on I will trust that you completely understand what is expected,” and when I say that I mean it. From that very moment when the rules have been put back in place and she is accepting it and listening, she has gained my complete, genuine trust.

You do have to be utterly crazy to want to work with a horse like this, because you have to be willing to eat dirt and then by the end of that day be able to say that you fully trust that same horse who threw you and prove it to her. On the days when my horse has behaved the most badly I have finished the day taking the biggest chances with her. Today my mare spent the whole day offering to throw me and getting more and more firmly corrected until she finally gave me one solid round around the arena. From the very moment when she finished that final lap without complaint, she regained my trust. I quickly hopped off, untacked her, let her roll in the sand (she was plenty sweaty by the end of that), took a moment talking things over with her (yes, I do this) while she rested her head on my shoulder and I rested my head on her cheek, then hopped on her bareback in a halter with just a lead on one side, helmetless (the amount of times I’ve ridden without a helmet I can count on one hand), and took her around the arena, then finished off laying on her back with my arms around her neck, and it was the first time I’d ever done any of that with this particular horse. She was perfect for all of it. Call me stupid, but I trust her wholeheartedly, and that’s why she listens to me. That’s why it works.

I’m hoping I’m making sense, I’ll check back later to make sure as right now I’m a bit out of it.
Happy Trails,
Manes and Tails
=)

Get back...off the horse?

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:12:42 -0700

I have been told a lot in my life that no matter what happens, you should not ever dismount while your horse is acting up. I’ve always taken that to heart, but I had one trainer that said otherwise. She told me there are times when the smartest thing does involve hopping off, and after thinking about it, I decided she was right.

Her idea was that while you should ride through what you can, there is no point in putting yourself in extra danger. Sometimes the best thing to do is to hop off and immediately make the horse wish that he had never wished you would come off, by getting after him firmly and working him- hard. It’s no way to respond to a horse who is simply showing confusion, but rather, dangerous levels of defiance. But once you’ve taken care of business, 100% of the time you should end any ride in the saddle on a good note, with your horse behaving correctly and everyone happy. This is something you will be incapable of doing if you are thrown from the saddle and get a concussion or break your arm. What a great reward old Diablo gets for his hard work- now you won’t be able to ride again for weeks! And once you can, he’ll know just how to solve that problem again.

Those of us who have worked much with horses who have chronic bucking problems become very familiar with the situations in which our horses will be liable to buck and the signs that they are about to. The same thing goes for horses who rear, take off, or fake out (all specifically in the context where the horse is purposely trying to unseat the rider out of frustration/laziness/annoyance/disrespect/etc.) You’re faced with a situation- either try to ride it out and hope for the best, or dismount and ultimately reward that behaviour. But sometimes there are other options, and today I’m going to describe a situation I was faced with with my mare today in detail in which I was able to get her focus and respect back in place and accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish despite her initially being in a snotty mood.

My goal for the day was to make a few laps around the arena at each gait and lope some circles while working on straightness, softness, and speed control. I walked her around and she was fine. We moved up to the trot and I could start to see that there were going to be some issues today- she was trying to yank her way across the arena at random points when I was clearly telling her to go straight and when she was corrected she made a sour face, braced, and threw her head into the air, so I immediately pulled her into a one-rein stop and then continued on as though nothing happened. We continued this way until she was going a little better, and then I asked her to pick up a lope. She was slightly sticky, but picked it up and we went around the arena a few times in an acceptable manner at a slow pace, then I moved her onto the circles.

As I was asking her to do a simple lead change and pick the lope up on the new lead, she became extremely evasive and pinned her ears, then started crow hopping. I scolded her, immediately pulled her into another one-rein stop and whacked her on the shoulder. I tried a few more times to no avail, seeing her come closer to bucking each time and never picking up the lope, so immediately after one of the attempts I quickly hopped off of her, grabbed a rein (I use split reins) and popped her in the rear and proceeded to push her around in circles disengaging her front then hind, front then hind, pushed her shoulder away, the like. I really raised my energy and got after her- made sure it was hard work. I did this for a brief time, then mounted again and she licked and chewed as I slid into the saddle. I asked her to proceed as we had been going before, as though nothing happened. She picked up the lope readily, I made sure she was going properly, then as soon as everything felt right I quit her right there.

I could have stayed on and tried to push through it, but I almost certainly would have been bucked which is never fun and potentially dangerous. This way, she received the message that if she even offers to buck there are serious repercussions and if I come off of her at any point before I am ready to things are a lot less fun than they are with me in the saddle. She learned an important lesson and I was able to accomplish what I wanted from our ride.

Now, as a disclaimer, my horse is moody and also still in training, so occasionally behaving this way is normal for her. If your well-trained horse suddenly acts this way, a health issue may be underlying, and I would highly advise you to check things like the fit and condition of your saddle and saddle tree, your horse’s teeth, back, feet, joints, etc. to be sure that pain can be ruled out.

Now, go and make each ride count, but most of all, have fun with it.
Thank you for your time and patience with my blog. I do check it regularly, so if there are any questions you’d like to ask, feel free to leave them here and I will respond as soon as I can.
Happy Trails!

Thoughts on Kindness and Attitude

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:00:05 -0700

Things are a bit crazy these days, but I’m trying to (at least mentally) work on new content. I thought I’d share some thoughts for today.

I will be finally moving my mare over to my stable in the next few days, so we’re working on trailer loading.

My mare is sassy, fiery, and tough, but she can be very delicate and sensitive. She has been pushed and pulled into trailers and hauled right off the bat a few times before…she’s deathly afraid of them.

We begin working in the evening when it is past dinner time, and place most of her hay in the manger inside of the trailer. I gently and sweetly urge her forward, rustling the hay and feeding her bits of it as she steps forward. Every now and then I lead her back out as a reminder that she can back out and is not trapped forever, but do not allow her to eat while she is out. If she backs out on her own without immediately stopping and coming back, I back her up and lunge her in a few circles around me, raising my energy, then stop and walk confidently into the trailer without glancing back at her, slowly increasing my energy level to 0 as I am in the trailer. I hold just the end of her lead rope, so that pressure is only applied as I get further away. At first, she does not come until the slack is taken up, and then she gingerly steps up. After a short while, as soon as I step into the trailer she is right behind me with a ton of slack in the lead, no hesitation to step up, and will calmly and happily graze on the hay everywhere, stopping occasionally only to sniff around and investigate the trailer.

We get to a point where she is standing with her hind legs pressed up against the bed of the trailer, desperately reaching for the remaining hay in the trailer. She stays there for a long time with no improvement, so I start to think that this is as far as we will get this way in any reasonable amount of time, so I decide to try having someone gently tap her hind end to encourage her the rest of the way in, so we exit the trailer and she is allowed to see and sniff the other person and the whip. She immediately becomes extremely anxious and uncomfortable, veins seen bulging all over her trembling body. She extremely cautiously steps less than halfway into the trailer, panics, and backs out, whites of her eyes clearly visible the entire time, head in the sky. We send the whip away and within moments she is almost all the way into the trailer again, following me in and out sensibly, calmly munching on hay, reaching curiously for more.

At this point I figure this is simply as far as we will get today, so I decide to just let her relax there for awhile and eat, keeping most of the hay just out of her reach but not putting any real pressure on her. I sit crouched in the front of the trailer holding just the end of her lead as she eats, sweet talking her and glancing occasionally at her hind legs with an absent mind. Just at the right moment that I am watching, I see her left hind leg lift up.

I know that a whole lot of people could get this horse into the trailer and down the road in a quick while, I know that. But she will rear, she will kick, she will shake her head, she will tremble, she will not experience a moment of peace until she is far away from any thought of it, and it will be all that much harder to get her in the next time. Is that what anybody wants? She does not want to go in because she is afraid and being forced in only makes her more afraid…so why not make it a calm, happy place she’ll gladly walk into? And why, in the long term, would I have to use any force at all to get her to do something she enjoys?

Of course no one thing works on any horse, but I just find it sad to see the way this mare has been treated simply because she has a little bit of fire to her. I can hardly believe the things I’ve heard about this horse, from “She’s just a mean, nasty horse” to “She’s beyond help and should just be left to pasture or put down”. I’ve treated her more gently than any horse I’ve worked with before and she respects me wholeheartedly and would follow me anywhere and do just about anything I asked her. People who have handled her before roughhoused her and approached her like she was evil, and she bolted and spooked and kicked and didn’t do a thing for anybody without excessive force.

Why is it so hard to just be patient and kind? I’ve never seen a horse respond so well to that.

I apologize if this is a little bit on the rambley, ranty side, I’m pretty tired and my brain is a bit in a fog these days anyway, but I just figured I’d share this bit because it was on my mind. I promise I’ll get back to lunging, I really will. And again, if there are any questions or comments or such, feel free to drop them anonymously or not in my ask box or email thoroughlove@hotmail.com.

I hope y’all are enjoying that lovely summer riding weather.
Stay cool (and keep your horses cool, too!),
Happy Trails