Training Horse Profile: Scootch

 Training Goals:

• Desensitize
• Standing for mounting
• Build confidence under saddle

Scootch is a handsome 7 year-old Quarter Horse gelding that has been a pasture ornament for most of his life.  He has had some previous training prior to his new owners, but the extent of his training under saddle is unclear.  One issue is that he bolts away when a rider tries to mount.  He has a very sweet personality, but is a bit over-reactive and spooky.  The training objectives are to reduce his spookiness and to help him gain confidence with a rider in the saddle.

Day 1-5: I began with basic ground work exercises to build a relationship with him and to see what he already knew.  He lunges excellently and stops quickly on 'whoa'.  He will trot on command, but is a little reluctant to canter without the presence of the whip.  I also worked on forehand and hindquarter yields, and lowering the head from halter pressure.  These exercises seemed new to him and he was somewhat resistant at first.  A few treats helped him understand the concept of lowering his head and he was much quicker to respond after that.  He takes the bit amazingly and was a pro at ground driving.  Since he is reactive to a rider trying to mount, I worked on desensitizing him to weight in the stirrup by applying pressure with my hand.  This allows me to easily control the amount of pressure on the stirrup and I can more easily move with the horse, rather than hopping around on one foot.

He tends to spook when the saddle makes any different noises, so much of the week was spent on desensitizing.  I attached a plastic bottle with a few rocks to the saddle and lunged him.  As he moved, the rocks rattled in the bottle and the bottle bounced against his flank.  Once he was lunging calmly, I moved the bottle to the other side.  I repeated this exercise using plastic bags.

Desensitizing to noise using a bottle with rocks.

Day 6-9: I reviewed the desensitizing exercises from last week and he was no longer phased by all the noise.  Now that he stands well during all of the various saddle desensitizing, I began putting weight into the stirrup with my foot.  Last week, he had become comfortable with pressure in the stirrup when it was applied by my hand but he was much more leery when my foot was in the stirrup.  He made slow progress and by mid-week I could briefly stand in the stirrup.  Unfortunately the progress was short-lived and by day 9 he reverted back to his old response.

Day 10: My usual approach to getting a horse comfortable with the mounting process just wasn't making any real progress with Scootch, so after the advice of a very experienced trainer, ("sometimes you just have to cowboy up and get in the saddle"), I decided to give it a go.  It took a few tries, but by keeping his nose flexed to the stirrup, I was able to ride out his spook and get into the saddle.  It took a few minutes for him to calm down and stand still.  If I let him straighten his neck, he would try to bolt, so I worked him in small circles in both directions.  By the end of the training session, he would stand calmly as long as his nose was flexed.

Desensitizing to noise using plastic bags.

Day 11: To help Scootch feel more positively about a rider, I am giving him a treat after I mount.  This should help him look forward to having a rider in the saddle instead of being anxious about it.  We also worked on riding in bigger circles and turning.  He was a bit calmer and only tried to bolt a few times.

Day 12: Today, Scootch stood still for mounting on the first try!  He also walked around the arena calmly and did not try to bolt.  Progress!

Day 13: His owner visited today so we demonstrated all of the skills we have been working on.  Scootch performed well at lunging, yields, ground driving, and pulling a sled.  He stood for mounting and did not try to bolt while riding.  He had some difficulty getting going from a halt, but overall he had a good day.

Day 14: We had a longer training session yesterday and Scootch was such a good boy, so we are going to take it a little easier today.  We reviewed ground work exercises, pivots, and flexing.  

All Saddled Up

Day 15: Today, Scootch decided he had learned his lesson about standing still for mounting to mean don't move at all with a rider!  I could not get him to move his feet.  At this point, I want his riding experiences to be extremely positive, so I wasn't willing to increase the pressure too much.  Instead, we worked on flexing and backing.

Day 16: He is standing so well for mounting.  Yay!  We practiced lots of backing but he refused to move forward.

Day 17: Increased the pressure today in an attempt to get Scootch unstuck.  It made him agitated and frustrated but did not result in forward movement.  New plan for tomorrow!

Day 18: Since Scootch is very responsive to the whip while lunging, I had a friend help me by standing in the center of the arena with a whip.  I asked Scootch to walk and after 3 asks with no response, my helper lifted the whip to encourage him forward.  After several repetitions of this, Scootch was beginning to respond to the leg pressure.  Hopefully, he will remember this lesson tomorrow when I don't have a friend around to help.

Day 19:  Scootch remembered his lesson from yesterday, but would only take one slow step at a time.  My legs sure were tired by the end of the session, but at least we had forward movement!

Day 20: Some improvement today.  It took awhile to get him going, and at first he would only take one step at a time.  Then, he started only walking sideways. Finally, by the end of the session, he was moving forward in straight lines.

Day 21: Scootch was so much better at walking straight today.  Making progress!

Day 22: Excellent ride.  Used barrels to mix things up and to improve his turning.

Day 23: Another great ride.  Continued to work with the barrels and improving his response to cues.

Day 24: Trotted today! I did not expect to get this far with him in the time that I have.  His trot is very comfortable and with more training, it will be a-ma-zing.

Day 25-27: Continued to work on improving his response to leg and bit cues and get more control over his steps.  He has made so much improvement and is so much calmer during the rides.

Day 28: Scootch goes home today!  He impressed his owners with his improvement and they are excited to see where he can go from here.

Relaxing after a good training session.

Scootch was a lot of fun to work with once I figured out the best training approach to use with him.  He has such a sweet personality and willing spirit.  He was a lot of fun to ride and was so responsive to my cues towards the end of his time with me.  This guy has a ton of potential and I look forward to seeing what he can do with the right rider!