Training Horse Profile: Lyra

 

Training Goals:

• Improve ground manners
• Tune-up under saddle
• Trail miles

Lyra is a 3-year-old Quarter Horse mare. Her owner purchased her last year and was unable to work with her regularly over the winter, so she brought Lyra for some consistent training to get a head start on the summer. 

Week 1

For the first few days, Lyra was quite upset about being on her own.  She kept things interesting for me as she would run up and down the fence neighing when I was working with another horse in the round pen (just 30 yards away!).  When it was her turn to work, she was pretty distracted and pushy.   She was nippy when I was in close contact with her and was CONVINCED I had treats to give her.  We worked on standing for saddling, yielding the forehand and hindquarters, standing for mounting and, towards the end of the week, standing patiently with a rider.  On Friday, the vet was out to do routine work for several horses.  Lyra stood perfectly for her vaccinations and coggins test.

Week 2

She is improving in her ground manners-- more responsive and less pushy and nippy.  Under saddle, she behaves nicely--just needs a little refining.  We worked on moving off leg, side passing, pivots.  She struggles most with getting impatient while saddling. Side passing took a little while for her to figure out and she wanted to push back against the pressure instead of moving away from it, especially when moving off the left leg.

Week 3

She stood for saddling much better this week and was very respectful on the ground.  She still struggled with side passing on one side, but otherwise is a very pleasant ride.  Now that she is moving off leg well and very responsive to the bit, it is time to put some miles on the trails.  At the beginning of the week, I led her over the bridge so she could check it out first.  She was pleasantly calm on the trail with very little spooking.  Since she was so calm, I tried to ride her into the creek, but she was not in favor of that.  The footing is a little tricky, so I didn't want to push her too much from the saddle.  I decided I would try again later on foot. Towards the end of the week, her owner visited, so we headed down to the creek to see if we could get her into the water.  She followed be right in, no extra encouragement needed!  She enjoyed splashing in the cool water.  Next trail ride, she rode right into the water.

The deer flies swarmed her terribly, so 
this helped keep her more comfortable!

Week 4

She had an off day at the beginning of the week where she was not respectful of my space and kept trying to run my leg into the fence while riding.  On the trails, she did not want to go through the puddles, even though she loves the creek 😂  The rest of the week she was fabulous!

Practicing patience while I work other horses.

Over the 30 days, Lyra improved immensely in her ground manners as well as her responsiveness under saddle.  By the end of the month, she was truly a pleasure to ride, both in the ring and out on the trails.

"She is wonderful working with horses and very patient with them. She trained my young horse for 30 days and did an excellent job. I highly recommend her." -Sara P. (Owner)

Training Horse Profile: Nico the Friesian

Nico is a 4-year-old Friesian Sport Horse gelding.  He had 90 days of training put on him last year, before his current owner purchased him.  His owner had brought Luna to me for training last fall and I was pleased to have them as clients once more!  They had only been able to ride him a couple of times before the weather turned cold and icy, so, after sitting over the winter he was giving them some trouble under saddle.

He even had a mustache!

For the first week, Nico was definitely testing the boundaries and was pushy and nippy.  After a week of consistent ground work, he quit most of his bad behaviors and showed me his sweet personality. My boys loved petting 'Mico' at chore time.

A funny story: 

Nico has two angus calves in the stall next to him. One evening, my 4-year-old son was helping me with the chores. After feeding the calves and watching them eat, he asked:

“Are we going to eat them?”

I explained that once they were big enough, we would butcher them for hamburger. He nodded enthusiastically and then walked over by the big black Friesian. After thinking for a moment, he asked:

“When he gets big are we going to eat him too?”

I have a feeling that Nico’s owner would not be on board with that

The previous trainer carried flags and shot pistols off of his back,
so the plastic bag wasn't much of a concern for Nico.

When I started riding him, if you asked him to trot, he immediately wanted to canter. He was constantly rushing his trot and had difficulty maintaining a steady rhythm. It was apparent that he hadn't worked much on turning or smaller circles. His turns had no bend and were more like angles than fluent turns. His circles had no roundness to them and he rushed so much that he was stumbling over his feet. I placed barrels in the round pen to help him learn to circle and turn and did a lot of figure-8s and small circles.

Once he was trotting steadily and was no longer pushing to canter, I started working on his transition into the canter. He tended to jump into the canter and often would throw a buck or two during the transition. Entering the canter in a smaller circle helped him to not rush into it as much. The first few days, he liked to race around the round pen. I worked on slowing him down and brought his canter to a more manageable speed. Getting into the canter was still a little rough some days, especially the right lead, but it sure was pleasant once you were into it!

We got quite a bit of rain one night and the round pen was super sloppy. You can see how wet it was and Nico's hooves have pretty much disappeared into the slop. Thankfully, the weather this spring was dry and mild overall. While not ideal for the farmer's newly planted crops, it was perfect horse training weather!

The tastiest reward for crossing the wooden bridge is the lush clover that grows on the other side! I take all of the horses across on foot first, so that I can stay safely out of the way in case of a spook on the bridge. Plus, it gives them confidence to follow me across. Their hooves are fairly loud on the planks, so many of the horses are a little nervous with their first step. After crossing it a couple of times on foot, they usually have no issues crossing it under saddle.

To give him some variety and to give his brain a break from circles, I started taking Nico out on the trails. He did exceptionally well and went everywhere I pointed him to. He wasn't bothered by the neighing of the other horses as we disappeared out of sight either. He did spook jump a few times at a squirrel or a bird, but as soon as I picked up the rein, he would come to a stop. It was nice to go out on the trails for once with a horse that wasn't super nervous!

Views From the Trails

He is a lot of horse with big gaits, but soo much fun to ride. I wish I could have kept him! I appreciate his owner's business once again and can't wait to see what he's up to in the future.

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.

Training Horse Profile: Dasher

Last week, I had the privilege of having this sweet little mare for 7 days of training.  Her owner had only had her for about a month and wanted to know what she could do and what vices she had.  She was purchased off an auction, so her history was unknown. 

She was great on the trails and confidently crossed the wooden bridge and creek.  She left the other horses easily and did not throw a fit about being out on the trails by herself.  Her walk was perfect for the trails, as it was comfortable, yet not overly slow.  She had a nice moving trot that covered a lot of ground quickly.  Her canter was pretty rough for the first couple of days, but smoothed out as the week went on.  One of the most fun things about this horse was that she backed up really fast and could do fast hindquarter spins. She was an enjoyable ride and will make her owner a very pleasant trail horse!

Over the course of the week, I discovered a couple of issues that she had and worked to address them in the short period I had her with me.  Below are the three main issues she had and what I did to fix them: 

Issue #1: Tying

Dasher stood quietly while tied when she was by herself in the stall.  However, when I was near her or trying to brush or saddle her, she became very nervous and flighty.  The first couple days, she acted quite frantic, sort of like she was being bitten by flies (but there weren't any).  Her owner had also noticed this behavior the one time he had her tied up.

The Fix:

To solve her nervousness at being tied, I spent more time grooming and running my hands over her body.  I moved gently and quietly and reassured her with my voice that she was okay.  She had quite the mess of knots in her mane when she arrived, so this provided the perfect opportunity for additional grooming exposure.  By the end of the week, she was almost completely over her nervousness and was even falling asleep while being saddled.  

Issue #2: Rushing

Dasher was also very nervous and tense at the beginning of each ride.  As soon as I swung into the saddle, she was rushing off at the trot and travelling around the ring in a very stiff and tense manner.

The Fix:

This is one of those issues that just takes time to correct.  With each ride, the horse will gradually become more relaxed as they learn what to expect from the rider.  During the ride, to help the horse slow down and relax, I like to do lots of small circles.  As soon as the horse begins rushing, I guide them into a small (but easily trot-able) circle.  Once the horse slows down, I guide the horse back out onto the rail.  When the horse begins to rush again (usually after only a couple of steps in the beginning), I repeat the small circle.  With Dasher, this method helped her to relax and slow down within just a couple of minutes.

Issue #3: Dismounting

My preferred method of dismounting is to take both feet out of the stirrups and jump down (rather than step down).  This was one time I was very glad that I dismounted this way!  I found out when I jumped down that Dasher had a problem with shying away from the dismounting rider.  If I had dismounted by stepping down, my foot may have been caught in the stirrup and I may have been drug as she moved away from me.  I tested to see if she was frightened by me jumping down from the saddle by jumping next to her, which resulted in no flight response.  I then tested to see what her reaction would be to a step-down dismount, which resulted in the same response as my earlier dismount.

The Fix:

This is another issue that takes a lot of time and a lot of mounting and dismounting.  It is one of those training fixes that is rather tedious and boring to work on.  For Dasher, I sat quietly in the saddle until she was relaxed before I attempted a dismount.  I also placed her next to the fence so that she could not move away from me while I was dismounting.  This was effective because she moved away from me, rather than forward, so the fence prevented that movement.  Each time she stood still while I was dismounting she was praised.  Once she could consistently stand still next to the fence, dismounting could be practiced from the center of the arena.