MARKING TIME FOR THE WEATHER

Feb 25

            It has been very cold here and snowing. All of the horses have to do shifts in the arena for exercise. I drove two of my other horses today and my fingers wouldn’t work well and I have found that when my hands don’t function, I might as well wait until the weather clears. I still touch and pet and move tails, feet, heads…of the Icys when I water and move them around, but I haven’t done anything much more than that. I put the bridle on Sam when I work other horses and he isn’t even chewing it anymore. He even eats with it. It is a non-issue for him.

            Today when I let the Icys into their stalls, the two in the main barn, Sam and Treat, went into their stalls by themselves without me catching them. This is the first indication that they have accepted their new digs. Sam stands at the stall gate when I feed and wants to see what is going on. Treat stands back in his stall and doesn’t seem interested in what I’m doing.  I was pretty happy about their development, though.

Feb 27

            It is starting to warm up now and we will be back into rainy weather. I will start getting the Icys out again and see what those I have done something with have retained. I don’t want them all at the same level at this point because I am going to do a Training Workshop and use them as part of the workshop for people to experience. They need to be safe enough to work with, but I want to show people what kind of responses they can expect from untrained horses. Hopefully, I will have them at 5 different levels of training to show the progression. Not sure how much longer I can turn them all out together, though. They beat the heck out of each other they when they play so hard. Patches of hair are chewed out of their coats. I may have to break them into a pair and a pair with a spare. I’ll see.

MORE PICTURES

ONE STEP FORWARD ONE STEP BACK

Feb 16

            Sam was a star today. He was very good with the harness and only bucked up(half-heartedly), but otherwise did everything I asked him to. I put the bridle on him for the first time. He chewed it, like he should, but didn’t seem to be terribly concerned.

            I just sacked out Shiloh, because he is jumping out of his skin for some reason. At times he is just fine, but if something sets him off he can’t wrap his head around it, so I will just sack him out everyday until he doesn’t flinch at all. I will use different materials (right now I am using an old towel) and let him get the frights out. I used to have another pony that had to be sacked every three weeks or so. In between the sackings, he was a champ. Some horses are just that way. He is getting better with his hind legs, although I won’t let Jill do them yet.

            I moved Sam and Treat into the main barn. They weren’t very happy about the change and leaving their buddies, but eventually they will all be in the bigger stalls and in the middle of the activity in my barn. That is as much of their training as taking them out everyday. I find that watching the hubbub of the working barn helps horses get used to the routine and change that goes with training.   

THE PRACTICE CONTINUES

Feb 11

            Jill has been working Shiloh and cleaned up Bleu today. My friend Rene came out to take pictures for an article in the Wheelhorse Newsletter for the American Driving Society. It was about the last nice day we are going to have for a while. In the pictures, Bleu is wearing the mannering halter. The horde was very good and stood well for the photo session. Treat wanted to be shy and kept putting his head behind me and Bleu was a camera hog. The others just stood waiting for me to tell them what to do. This is a good test of how well they are staying put when told to whoa.

            I’ve put a few of the pictures on this blog. My little Icy Horde has really grown on me. They bring a smile to my face every day.

Feb 14

            Jill worked Shiloh, Bleu and Sam. Shiloh shied when a horse in the barn bit him and Jill was squished against the wall, but she will be okay, she said. The others did well. I haven’t had her put the surcingle or the harness saddle on anyone yet, but I will show her this week how to do that. Mostly, I am glad she is working them and keeping them exposed to other people besides me.

AND AROUND AND AROUND THEY GO

Feb 7

            Sam is settling in well to the routine of work. He has become very attentive and affectionate when I water and he many times stays close to me when I am out in the arena when they are loose. He still bucked a little with the rope around his rump, but I was able to stop him and he went on with his work. He is a fun guy and I’m encouraged by his progress.

            I put the surcingle on Shiloh today. He wasn’t impressed. His solution to the feel of it was to run. He didn’t buck, but he was trying to get away as fast as he could. I didn’t have it on very tight, but it stayed put, so he didn’t loose it during his antics. Eventually he settled down and did walk and trot normally. He is a goosey bugger, though. I may have to start sacking him out every time I work with him until he gets over it. He was better with his back feet, though. I still had to use the rope, but he held the back ones up so I could clean them. Big step for him.

            I think Bleu will be my next student. He has pulled away from me a couple of times and he is being very standoffish. He is the only one who has not had a session with the mannering halter. As time goes on he is developing a bad attitude while all the others are getting better by the day. Time to give him a reality check and get him started with some direction.

Feb 9

            I’m so proud of Sam. I put the harness saddle with crupper and breaching attached on him  today and he only bucked twice and I was able to stop him from doing that. He is very cute in a harness. The crupper didn’t seem to bother him at all. It is the kind that doesn’t have buckles, so I had to put his tail through it. He clamped it at first, but in a few minutes he didn’t seem to mind. You never know how explosive a horse will be when you first put a crupper on them. They get over it pretty quickly, but it can be exciting sometimes. He was fine. For almost the rest of his training he will be in this part of the harness with the rest added as he gets used to it. I must be patient, but it looks like things are starting to come together with Sam’s training. I will have to introduce him to a bridle (open) soon. 

AROUND AND AROUND WE GO, SHILOH

Feb 1

            Today was Shiloh’s second day lunging. I sent him to the right on the line and he figured it out well right from the start. He wants to pull out on the circle pretty hard, but he only tried to pull away a couple of times and gave it up quickly when he met resistance from the mannering halter. This is the time I teach green horses the command words that I am going to use when I drive. I started this actually when they first learned to lead and have continued as I work with them. I use a word command like “walk on” “trot” and “whoa” to start with. Keeping with the idea of the KISS system (keep it simple, stupid) so that there is only a single concept to grasp. I include the sounds such as click and kiss and trill to elaborate on the command. To get the horse to make a transition down, I will accompany the repeated command with a tug on the line for every time I repeat the command. Eventually, they will decrease their movement until they make a transition down. Repeating this each time will train them to respond with the transition more readily each time until they will do it on the voice command. Consistency is the key to this.

            Shiloh was a little better with his back feet today. I still had to use the cotton rope, but he did pick them each up when I used my hand after I did it with the rope a few times. It will take time, but he will eventually trust me enough and give in enough to do it when I ask.

            Sam lunged very well today and this time I put a lead rope around his rump just above the hocks so he can get used to something rubbing him. He bucked a couple of times and tried to run away from it for a short time and then ignored it. I was pleased with his response. I would rather a training horse act out at the beginning so we can move on from that rather than hold it in to explode later. Once they accept the feel, they usually don’t worry about it any more.