BETTER AND BETTER

     An update on the progress of Sam I Am and his driving. He has been at it for a little over a month and is settling in very well. I took him outside the arena for the first time yesterday and he was again the star of the show! It is always a major thing for green driving horses to go outside at my place. I don't have any flat spots except where my arena is, so it is either up or down hill no matter where they go. It is the first time they have to really hold back with the breeching  so it can be kind of iffy sometimes the first time out. Sam handled it very well and didn't seem to be concerned about holding the weight of the cart(and me) coming back down into the arena. He was a little looky the first time around the driveway, but since his paddock is in the middle of the two drives I have, he wasn't worried about his buddy Shilo being in it.He wasn't sure how much effort he wanted to put into going up hill, but soon figured it out with a bit of encouragement and after that first time was not a problem. I will continue to take him out(weather permitting) and then it will be time to take him somewhere else.
     A couple of friend came to bring a mini horse in for training and helped me with Trick and Treat. Anne and Karen volunteered to be "strangers that are nice to horses" people and take Trick and Treat out to groom them and lead them around. We did some sacking out with the bag at the end of the stick and I showed them how the manmering halter works. Trick never pulled, tho he wan't very happy about the bag at first, but Treat tried to get away, but gave it up after he hit the end of the lead rope. Only once and he didn't try again. I have learned that, to be safe, I need to use the halter just in case. If I don't need it, it doesn't do anything. I have a regular halter on under it with a lead that I use unless they take off.. Only then will the mannering halter be put into play. Eventually, it isn't needed at all.
     It was very nice of Anne and Karen to help me out. Like I've said before, my Icys aren't afraid of most things, but strangers are still a bug-a-boo for them.
     I found a video on YouTube that showed Monty Roberts working with an Icelandic horse that did the same things mine did at first. Pulling away and not allowing anyone to catch him. He was kind of amazed how fast the little guy finally caught on by the end. I've found that my guys are very smart and once they understand the new order, are pretty willing to do it. The more they learn and do, the more they are willing to learn and do.

     I've attached a few very short videos of Sam driving at the trot in my arena. Since these were taken, he has become much more confident and is trotting stronger. He is light in the hand and is accepting the bit better all the time. I hope you enjoy watching him. Next thing to do is teach him to load in a trailer(his only trailer ride was coming home with me(I don't count the ride they took to the stock yard).

Enjoy

SUCCESS!

     I really haven't forgotten about this blog. I've just been busy and a one armed paper hanger. Anyway, my last post was my 2012 New Year's Resolution to get 2 of my Icys doing something. Well, I accomplished half of that. Actually, probably one and a half, because I did lay across Trick during the year.
    The big new, however, is that I have Sam driving. I took it slow with him because I needed to make sure he was not going to have a bad experience and what I have noticed with my Icys is that they hang onto a bad experience as proof that something is going to get them. So I took it slow and made sure he was really ready before I went on to the next step. Because the trainer's horses are the last ones to get worked, I had to hire myself to make sure Sam had the time put in on him that he needed. It has payed off and I am happy to say that my little Icelandic Sam I Am is driving in a cart. He is still in the early stages, but he has accepted it without a fuss and I expect him to continue in fine form. The next step after has some miles on him will be to take him some places for him to get used to other people and horse and carriages. One thing at a time, though.
     He is very cute and he is such a good mover. I love to watch him trot(yup, no tolt here) and he does the most relaxed canter. Right now he is in a cart and that is where he will stay for some months now. I don't put them into a 4 wheel vehicle until they are pretty comfortable in the cart. I will also have my student, Kristi, drive him eventually so that he gets used to someone else. They seem to be kind of one person horses. Sam even showed a jealous streak when I got a new dog this summer. He snubbed me for almost a week when I first brought JJ into the barn. Tried to run the dog down as well. You could just tell he was miffed by the intruder. Now they don't think anything about the other, but it was pretty interesting at the time.
     The others have also settled into the routine of the barn. I eventually moved all of them into the barn proper and they all settled down in that community well. When I had some outside horses come in this fall, I moved Blue and Shilo back out into the arena. It is working out well. I put them in separate poddocks, Sam and Shilo together, Trick and Treat together and Blue alone. I was having trouble with Blue pulling away when we were letting him out in the paddock with Sam and Shilo,  I finally decided that, because he is low man on the totem pole, he was bolting to get his place at the hay  before they could chase him around. When I put him along, he actually relaxed and I was able to work him out of the bolt away syndrome. He is much friendlier when he is along. He have Bo(young hackney horse) to chat with across the fence.
     All of them come right up to be caught now and they have relaxed enough that when I come in to water in the buckets in the stalls, they continue to eat instead of stopping to keep an eye on me. Trick is starting to tell me he wants more of my attention, so he will be next to work.
     I've attached a short video clip of Sam on his first drive.  He was a real champ! I drove him again today without a helper and he was just as good or better. So far we are still at the walk stage, but he will be ready to trot in a couple of more workouts. I'm very excited about my little Sam.

I will try not to be so long in updating this again. Kind of hard to keep up with everything I am doing.

Until next time, Fair well.

CATCHING UP!

Oh, it has been so long since I posted to this blog. Many things have been happening since then. My 5 Icys have been progressing well over the past year(almost). They are all in the barn and that lets me work with them very consistently daily when I feed, clean stalls or just put them out. They are out each day and come in every night so that means they are handled in some way everyday.

No one is actually under saddle or pulling a cart yet, but they are all able to be led in groups of 2 or 3 together and they will let me(or the farrier) trim and pick up their feet. Shilo still is reluctant to let Zane do it, but I have been able to trim him. I can walk up and catch any one of them when they are turned out. Well, actually they will let me catch them most of the time. Sometimes they just want to play and then it is a test of wills as to who wins, me or them. If they give me too much guff, they get to be in solitary confinement and that usually makes them more contrite and easier to convince who is boss.

Sam and Trick have become exceptionally lovey and want to be petted and loved every time I am near them. Treat is becoming that way as well. They seem to have to get to a certain point of familiarity before they will finally give over to me without question. This is a big step for each of them. Bleu falls in and out of this state and will be very amenable for a while and then something will set him off and he will act like I am going to eat him alive. I readjusted my estimate of his age this year. I think he must only have been about 3 when I got him. He has filled out a lot and has matured mentally this past year. He used to be the smallest, but now he is every bit as big as Shilo and to tell you the truth, it is getting harder to tell them apart. My poor hired hand can't tell them apart and when I tried to put different colored ribbons in their manes so he could color code on their stall, they just thought that was a great game of 'take the ribbon out'. Needless to say, they didn't last. He is the only person who puts them in and gets every one in a wrong stall. The odds against that are pretty high, but he seemed to do it. Last time he put them in he got one right. The boys take delight in going in the wrong stalls for him. For me they go in without trouble. With no markings on any of them, I'm afraid he may never get them straight.

My entire Icy Hoard has been fitted with their own bridles and are getting used to having a bit in their mouths. None of them have been particularly worried about the bit or bridles. I put them on in their stalls when I work other horses and then take them off when I'm done. They each chewed for a little while and then just stood around waiting. Some just started eating with them. No problem.

My New Year's Resolution is to have at least 2 of the boys doing something this year. Sam is my first project because I had already started with him last year and he is the one who seems to be wanting to do something with me. He has learned to lunge and has had a harness and a training surcingle on and he is quite responsive to the voice commands. He still once in a while kicks out at the breaching, but mostly he ignores it. I will start to long line him in the next week or so. The weather here has been nasty the past couple of weeks and I find it hard to work when my hands are frozen in claws. I have also started to teach Trick to lunge. Like all of the Icys, he is a smart critter and got the hang of it very quickly. I think he will be my second pick to work this year. I have found that I simply don't have time to bring them all along at the same level together. Just not enough hours or enough me to go around. By picking 2, I feel I can bring them along to a point that perhaps I can have someone help me work them and then get 2 more started. That is the plan, anyway. When I get them to a point that I can work them as pairs, the work will be easier, but that is a ways down the road.

All in all, I have been enjoying my Icy Boys. They are friendly, curious, hardy and a real kick to watch. I don't have them all turned out together when they go outside because they beat the heck out of each other when they play. They are all turned together in the area when the weather is bad and they nick themselves up all the time. I will undoubtedly have to clip Sam and Trick when the weather turns warm, because they only loose their hair for about one month out of the year and then start to put the next winter coat on. I did clip them at assorted times last year whenever they pissed me off. If they didn't let me catch them they not only went into solitary, they also received a trace clip of some kind. It actually helped keep a couple of them cool in the late summer months.

Well, this is the update for now. I will try to be better at putting info on here as they progress.

5 LITTLE TEACHERS

April 29, 2011

           

            It’s been very busy at my farm for the past month and I had to put the Icys on the back burner for a while. That doesn’t mean that I don’t do anything with them. Twice a day when I feed I handle each of them to keep them used to someone touching, patting, moving around and swinging my arms around them. Just the everyday handling helps them become more comfortable with someone around them. Sam and Treat, the Icys in the main barn, are getting more used to the coming and going of horses and people through the barn. They know their stalls now and when I bring them in from turnout in the arena, they just go into their stall without hesitation, even if there is something kind of scary in the isle way.  I have used a curry on each of them to try to get the hair to come off. Sometimes a lot comes, sometimes not much. The main thing is that they let me touch them all over.

            I did use them in a Training Workshop that I put on during the weekend of April 23 and 24. They were exposed to four strangers and it was good for everyone to see how horses that were wild respond to someone they don’t know. Each of the participants had to catch one of the Icys when they were out loose in the arena as a group. I have to say that everyone did a good job and some caught their Icy pretty handily. It also shows that headway has been made for the Icys to accept someone (anyone) to catch them. There was some evasion, but it didn’t take too long to accomplish.

            The Icys were all tied up along the  side of the arena and everyone practiced working around them and grooming them. The point was not so much leaning how to groom, but how to move around and stay safe working with an unpredictable horse. I also used a couple of them to show how to sack out a horse and how the mannering halter works. Then Sam showed how to start a horse lunging and what to look for in order to determine if a horse is relaxed and moving forward or tense and sucked back. Sam always moves forward, but it took a little while for him to relax, so he was a great example of what to watch for. They were all impressed by his large movement and lengthened stride when he relaxed.

            I have a pretty busy May as well, but hopefully will be able to get working more regularly with them this summer. They are showing little things that indicate they are settling into the domestic lifestyle. 

HAIR EVERYWHERE!

Mar 25

            Jill worked Sam today while I worked another horse at the other end of the arena. He wasn’t too happy having another horse in the arena with him and Jill had her hands full. He didn’t do anything bad, but he wanted to race around the circle and pull on the line. She finally put the line over his poll so he wouldn’t pull the bit through his mouth. By the time she was done, however, he was being a good boy. That is the next step, I think, getting used to other horses around him working. He was good for her to handle.

Mar 28

            I worked Sam today. He wanted to counter bend, especially to the left, so I put the line through the bit and back to the turret on the harness saddle. By doing this, he had to give his head towards the inside of the circle. He wasn’t very happy about it and mouthed the bit a lot, but eventually he gave and relaxed into the circle better. I will continue to do this so he can learn to give to the bit. He needs to accept this pressure on the bit in order to long line him.

Mar 30

            Sam worked very well today. I used the line as described  on the 28th.  He loves to be groomed and stands still while I try to get the mattes of old hair off of him. I had to resort to cutting most of them off. He was very patient and I was very careful not to snip him or pull on the mattes very much. I did some of this on Monday and was trying to get most of it off today. Bleu and Treat also have mattes, but I’m not going to sit under them like I can Sam.

            Treat was a spooky nut today when I was grooming him. You would think that I never had done it before. Once we got into it, he was better, but I think I need to make a point of getting him out into the cross ties everyday so he can get the hang of this. One of my students and a friend were there as well and that kind of set him off. The Icys in general are not very comfortable with strangers. Sam liked the girls. I was able to get a bunch of hair off of Treat, but there is tons more to come off. He and Trick don’t have the same texture of hair as the others do. It is more dog hair like than cat fur soft. Trick doesn’t hardly have any mattes that I can feel. I’ll groom him tomorrow and see what I find.

            I groomed Bleu, who is the worst of the Icys as far as hair coming out. He had the longest coat from the beginning. I was standing in a cloud of hair and I only scratched the surface of this chore. I had to resort to cutting some of his mattes off as well, but his whole belly is covered in them. I’ll be at this for a while. He was good, though, and let me do it without a problem. He is a funny duck. I am not sure what sets him off. It isn’t being around him or putting things on him, but sometimes he flips out if I move too fast. I’ll keep thinking on this and see what I can do to remedy it.

            All in all I did get the three I worked with today looking better. Once they felt me scrubbing on them with a curry and getting down to the skin where I’m sure it itches, they got into it. Even Treat started pushing into the curry. Everyone was good with their feet, front and back. I even put them between my legs(front ones) and on my knee(back ones) like my farrier, so they will be used to that way. 

THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET...

Mar 21

            Everyone had their feed trimmed today. Bleu and Sam were very good. They had been trimmed last time front and hind. Treat was afraid of Zane, my farrier. He has been very good with me, but no one else has worked with him so he was shy of a stranger. He was good with his front, but Zane had to use a soft cotton rope to get Treat to accept his hands on the hind legs. Once he was desensitized, though, he was good. Afraid, but stood still. I will keep working on him.

            Trick was worried, as well, but didn’t put up quite as much fuss. Once Zane got him to pick up his hind legs, Trick was okay with it. He wasn’t as worried about a stranger, but still not comfortable.

            Shiloh was a stinker. Even though I have picked up his hind feet, he just decided to be a brat. At first we tried to ease him into it, but he was just acting out so I got after him with the mannering halter. After a few bumps with the halter, he decided to stand still. Once he gave in he was fine. I think that he is not so much scared as he is just testing if he really has to do it. I may start taking a different approach to his training. He may need to learn to do it just because I am stronger than he is. I’ll have to think on it. 

PERSEVERANCE

Mar 15

            The weather and other pressing matters have cut into my time with the Icys. I still work with them each time I water and they are good to catch now because they are put in and out every day, but I haven’t had a chance to really work anyone until today and it shows. Sam was good to groom, but a little jumpy. He wants to come out and be with me. He wants to have me touch and pet him, but I just haven’t had the time to actually get him out and work with any of them individually. Besides, the barometer had dropped and I find that sometimes makes horses edgy. No excuse for a trained horse, but for an untrained or wild one they are just reacting the way horses do.

            He bucked for a while on the lunge. I don’t think he is that opposed to the breaching. It seems to have become a game for him so next time I will nip it when he tries it again. Otherwise, he was good. Pulled a little bit on the bridle, but not enough to worry. Just working it out, I think.

            I also worked Treat again. Today he was a stinker! He went to the left pretty well, but when I tried to go to the right he went for a while and then decided he had enough and pulled away, mannering halter or not. He is too strong for me to stop if he really wants to go, so I had to let him go and catch him at the end of the arena. He did this three times and I could see in his eye that he had it figured out. Time to do something that stopped this before it got out of hand. Most of the Icys have a healthy respect for the halter, but if they learn they can run through it, I am up you know what’s creek, so I got another lunge line to make it longer and then tied it to one of the arena posts. It didn’t take long for him to try it again and I just let go of it so he hit the end when he reached the length of the line. Surprise, surprise. He was a stubborn little boob, though, and he had to do that a number of times before he realized the jig was up. You have to be very careful when you have them on a long line to a post. I was knocked down once because I got caught in the bite of the line. I had it tied up too high, I think, and will put it down so it is easier to step over next time. He finally gave in and we called it good, but he was in a sweat by then, for sure, which meant that he had to then let me rub him down with a towel. That’s what he gets for being a pill.

Mar 19

            Finally got a chance to get back to Sam and Treat. This time on the lunge line I got after Sam if he tried to buck. Only took a couple of times and he figured out that was a No, No. I was working on stopping and going and standing while I come up to him and then go away from him. He was pretty good and I think we will be doing this until he does it without a problem. He is good with his feet and hopefully will be good for my ferrier on Monday.

            Treat tried his twirl and dash thing one time and I tied him to the post again. He did it one more time and hit the end of the line and then didn’t do it again, although I know he was thinking about it. I made him go to the right, because I knew that was the way he didn't want to go. To the left he seems to be quite comfortable. I have found that these guys are very one sided, so that is what I am trying to work on, even in their stalls. They always seem to present one side. Treat was good with his feet and I have been able to clean front and back without too much trouble. As long as I take it easy he isn’t worried.  I was pleased with him today. I am finding that these guys are very smart and that you can’t let them get away with something very long until they use it against you. Good in some ways, but means I have to stay on my toes.