- Picking up hind feet
- Walk, trot, canter
- Turning, stopping, backing
(If you missed Part 1 of Flicka's training, you can find it here.)
Day 17: Flicka's first ride! She did pretty well and walked quietly around the round pen. It's always nice when they don't turn into a bronc. She definitely wasn't 100% comfortable with a rider on her back and she immediately stopped if I shifted my weight or made any noise. I also started working with her on picking up her hind feet.
The first step to teach an adult horse to pick up their rear feet is to get them comfortable with you being back there. I start by making sure they are comfortable with their hindquarters being touched and with someone walking behind them. Then, I begin handling their lower legs. I want the horse comfortable with me running my hands down their legs and feeling their hooves. If the horse is not comfortable with me touching their legs, they won't be comfortable with me holding one of their defense mechanisms. Next, I apply pressure just above the fetlock to ask the horse to pick up their foot. As soon as they lift their foot, I release the pressure. Once they are proficient about picking up their foot quickly when asked, I can work toward teaching them to keep the foot up and allow it to be held.
Day 17: Flicka's first ride! She did pretty well and walked quietly around the round pen. It's always nice when they don't turn into a bronc. She definitely wasn't 100% comfortable with a rider on her back and she immediately stopped if I shifted my weight or made any noise. I also started working with her on picking up her hind feet.
The first step to teach an adult horse to pick up their rear feet is to get them comfortable with you being back there. I start by making sure they are comfortable with their hindquarters being touched and with someone walking behind them. Then, I begin handling their lower legs. I want the horse comfortable with me running my hands down their legs and feeling their hooves. If the horse is not comfortable with me touching their legs, they won't be comfortable with me holding one of their defense mechanisms. Next, I apply pressure just above the fetlock to ask the horse to pick up their foot. As soon as they lift their foot, I release the pressure. Once they are proficient about picking up their foot quickly when asked, I can work toward teaching them to keep the foot up and allow it to be held.
Day 18: Her 2nd ride was uneventful as well. I worked with her on maintaining her walk and introduced turning. Turning at the walk was pretty easy for her, as she had lots of practice with that while ground driving.
She has difficulty standing in place when I ask her to pick up a hind foot. It is pretty common for horses to try and avoid picking up hind feet by moving their hindquarters away from you. This movement can be prevented by having the horse stand along side a fence. It is helpful (and safer) to have a second person hold the horse for you. If you do not have a second person, the inside corner of a sturdy fence can also be used.
She has difficulty standing in place when I ask her to pick up a hind foot. It is pretty common for horses to try and avoid picking up hind feet by moving their hindquarters away from you. This movement can be prevented by having the horse stand along side a fence. It is helpful (and safer) to have a second person hold the horse for you. If you do not have a second person, the inside corner of a sturdy fence can also be used.
Day 19: Today, I introduced trotting. Based on early body language, she did exactly what I expected her to do and bolted after a couple of strides of trot. Trotting created more movement on her back and the saddle makes more noise as well, and she spooked. Thankfully, she was easy to get back under control. I asked her to do short sequences of trotting until she could go a few strides without bolting. Continued training with pressure and release to pick up hind feet.
Day 20-22: The next couple of days we did a lot of walking, circles/turns at the walk, trotting, transitions, and I introduced her to backing under saddle. She picked this up very quickly and responds quite well when asked to back up. She is picking up her hind legs pretty consistently when asked, so I have begun to teach her to let me hold her hoof. Right now, I only hold it for a couple seconds and I try to place it back down before she thinks about pulling her foot away.
Day 23: She is consistently picking up the trot and maintaining the trot both directions in a circle, so I introduced turning at the trot. As is completely normal at this stage, Flicka breaks down to a walk or stop when I ask for a turn. This was one of those days when the trainer gets more of a workout than the horse! Her hind feet are coming along slowly. Sometimes she picks it up quickly and I can hold it up for a few seconds, other times it doesn't go as well.
Day 24: A lot of exercise for the trainer again today! She is maintaining the trot through some of the turns, so some improvement, but I sure am tired out from all the effort it took to get her there.
Day 25: Flicka's owners visited to see how her training was coming along. She showed them how well she stands to be saddled, how she lunges and leads, she picked up both of her front feet beautifully, and quietly stood tied. I am very proud of how she behaved under pressure!
Day 26: Flicka's turning at the trot has really improved! She is maintaining her trot through the turns and I don't have to constantly keep after her to stay trotting. She had trouble backing up today, which is uncharacteristic for her as she is usually very responsive to backing (she later came up lame, so it was likely due to pain when she put extra weight on her hindquarters to back up).
Day 27: I was really excited to continue today after yesterday's great session. Unfortunately, just as we were starting to make great progress at maintaining the trot through turns, Flicka came up lame. As soon as I started working with her, I could see that she was feeling sore in the right hind leg. Upon inspecting her leg, my suspicion was confirmed when I located swelling at and above the right hind fetlock. Bummer! She likely stepped wrong during the previous day's session and strained the tendons her fetlock. This type of injury typically heals up just fine after some rest. Flicka's owner decided to take her home to heal up and give her enough time off to ensure that she was 100% before continuing her training.
Day 27: I was really excited to continue today after yesterday's great session. Unfortunately, just as we were starting to make great progress at maintaining the trot through turns, Flicka came up lame. As soon as I started working with her, I could see that she was feeling sore in the right hind leg. Upon inspecting her leg, my suspicion was confirmed when I located swelling at and above the right hind fetlock. Bummer! She likely stepped wrong during the previous day's session and strained the tendons her fetlock. This type of injury typically heals up just fine after some rest. Flicka's owner decided to take her home to heal up and give her enough time off to ensure that she was 100% before continuing her training.
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