Training Horse Profile: Dozer the Percheron

 Training Goals:

• Desensitizing
• Standing for saddling, mounting
• Riding tune-up

Dozer is approximately 18 years old and has been intermittently ridden the last few years due to lack of time on his owner's part.  A former Amish plow horse, he was retired from field work at the age of 8 because of lack of stamina due to laryngeal hemiplegia (roaring). He was treated for this condition through tie- back surgery and was used frequently by his current owners for a variety of activities.  Since sitting for the past few years, he had developed some annoying behaviors that were making it difficult to use him for trail riding.  Behaviors like walking off while trying to mount, not standing still, prancing around, and getting spooked at noises or when seeing things out of the corner of his eye.  The goal was to work through these issues so that they can get back to enjoying trail riding.

One of the neatest things about this guy, is that he lives with camels and goes trail riding with them!  The funny part is that he is afraid of the camels when they have their saddles on.  He shares a pasture with them but once the saddle is on, they become a VERY SCARY CREATURE.

The Big Handsome Guy

For the first week, Dozer was pretty anxious and had difficulty standing still for more than a few seconds. When asked to stand still, he got frustrated and irritated which he exhibited with nipping and pawing.  Even just standing in the round pen for grooming was a challenge and I spent most of the week lunging, asking him to stand quietly, and then lunging again. It took him a week to stop snorting and prancing whenever we walked by the two angus calves near the round pen.

Once he settled in, Dozer was much more relaxed and I was able to start desensitizing him.  I exposed him to a bunch of different things on the ground and then again from the saddle.  When it came time to start riding him, I didn't have any problems with him standing for mounting.  Perhaps he learned his lesson from all of the previous exercises on standing still!

I couldn't quite get my foot into the stirrup and I don't currently have a mounting block.  A bucket was the perfect height and was easily moveable.  It required a bit of careful balancing so that it didn't tip.  One of the days it did tip and I ended up falling back and sort of knocking the bucket underneath of Dozer.  He just gave me a funny look 😂

When you can't quite reach the stirrup,
a bucket is a cheap mounting block!

He wasn't able to get his feet trimmed before he arrived and they were overdue, so my farrier got him trimmed up.  Dozer used to only be trimmed in stocks and can sometimes still be difficult for the farrier.  I was expecting it to be a little bit of a struggle since he had never met my farrier before, but he stood like a perfect gentleman.  He was the most cooperative horse of the day!

To work on desensitizing his peripheral vision, I hung various things on the round pen panels that I could reach for.  At first, even leaning to reach out would cause him to spook away.  As I continued to work with him, I was able to reach out and touch the objects but he would still spook if I tried to pick them up. After lots of repetition and exposure, he gradually was less reactive to me reaching for things and eventually no longer spooked.

He makes my stirrups look really short!

After I desensitized him to everything I could come up with inside the round pen, I started taking him out to explore new territory.  He discovered a few scary things (a wood bench LOL), but after a few minutes he was able to overcome each thing and they were no longer scary after that.

How do you help a horse overcome their fear of a scary object? Let the horse stop and look.  Praise them for standing still.  Keep them turned toward it and circle back if they spook away. Ask for steps towards the object and allow them to pause after each step forward. Be patient!

At the end of the month, all of the spooking issues had resolved and he was much more relaxed overall.  I was able to pull leaves off of trees as we were passing by, snap twigs off, take off my jacket, reach for things and bring them towards him.  I don't have any camels, so his owners are on their own with that 😜 

Training Horse Profile: Dakota

Training Goals:

• Ground work & exercise
• Standing for saddling and mounting
• Riding tune-up

Dakota is a 9 year old Quarter Horse gelding.  He had mostly been sitting around eating, so he was out of shape and his manners were a little lacking.  His owners brought him for a 30 days of training to work on his ground manners and to tune-up under saddle.

Ground Work Exercises:

• Forehand and Hindquarter Yields: After a short refresher, he did these quite well, especially on the left side. He was more resistant with the shoulder on the right side, but once he started the yield he did it well.
• Backing: He would lean back on his hocks away from the pressure but he often wouldn't actually move his feet. It looked a bit like a yoga pose! Over time, his backing response improved.
• Lowering the Head: This is one exercise that he really struggled with. He improved some and allowed his head to be lowered down, but he never really 'gave' in response to the pressure.
• Bridges: After a short hesitation, he crossed the two-level bridge with all four feet. Probably one of the fastest  to do so. He also crossed the creek bridge and got to enjoy the tasty clover on the other side.
• Lunge: This was an exercise that he knew how to do.  He was easy to send out and trotted and cantered on que. He also stopped when asked. He struggled to pick up the correct lead in the beginning, but the improved as he got into better shape.  One thing that I worked on with lunging was his tendency to run out when I went to send him out.  Sometimes, I had barely picked up the lunge line and he was already running out to the circle.  I worked with him on waiting until I actually asked him to go and to go out calmly.  One of his amusing quirks: he liked to buck on the lunge line for a couple laps when I would first ask him to canter.  As soon as I would pull out my phone for a video, he would quit.  The days that I started lunging with my phone ready, he never bucked 😂
• Surcingle with Side Reins: Helped him learn to give to the bit instead of pushing his nose up in the air.
• Standing for Saddling/Mounting: A lot of the desensitizing exercises listed helped him practice standing still. It helped him learn to stand still for saddling and by the time I started riding him, he stood great for mounting.

A tasty clover reward
after crossing the bridge.

Desensitizing Exercises:

• Plastic Bag on Whip: He was very concerned about the bag coming near him until it touched his shoulder.  It was like then he realized, "Oh, this is harmless!" and he was never bothered by it again.  I could shake it over his head, all over his body, wave it in the air, whatever, he was cool with it.
• Plastic Bottle with Rocks: He was spooked for about a half a circle, and then settled down and trotted calmly with it on both sides.
• Empty Water Bottle: This was the thing he was the most afraid of.  That took the longest time for him to be okay with it crinkling near him.
• Whip:  He was pretty leery of the whip and tried to start lunging whenever the whip came near him.  I think someone had used the whip pretty heavily with him for lunging, because as soon as he saw me pick it up, he was ON THE MOVE.  

Desensitizing with Plastic Bottle of Rocks

Riding Tune-up:

Dakota walked nice and quietly. He definitely had the makings for a relaxing trail ride. He had a lovely sitting trot and a comfortable canter, although it took some convincing to get him there (and keep him going!). Although his owner had issues with him not standing for mounting, after all of the ground work it was no longer a problem once I started riding him.

Gotta love the horse booty! 

It was kind of amusing that the day that I went to record some videos for his owner was the (only) day that he was feeling a little bucky.  As soon as I stepped into the stirrup, I felt him round his back and pop his rump.  He thought about throwing some bucks for a couple of small circles and then apparently decided it wasn't worth the effort.  He was a perfect little horse the rest of the ride!

Dakota modeling for his sale photos.

Although he preferred to walk and was quiet 98% of the time, due to his occasional big spooks and his tendency to buck, I didn't feel that he was the right horse for his owners at their riding experience level.  Dakota has a lot of great qualities, but really wasn't going to be the right match for what they needed, and they agreed.  Dakota will make an excellent mount for a confident intermediate+ rider and will be headed to his new home soon!

Dakota modeling for his sale photos.