Training Horse Profile: Babe the Clydesdale

Training Goals:

• Riding
• Driving Prep
• Feet

Babe is between two and three years old.  Her new owners had purchased her about a month prior to bringing her to me and not much is known about her history.  While she had not had much handling, she was sweet and cooperative throughout training.

Her feet were extremely overgrown when she arrived and her owners were not sure if she had ever been trimmed.  The first week was primarily spent getting her comfortable with having her feet handled and getting her ready to have her feet trimmed.  Once a few inches were taken off of her hooves, she was able to move much more easily and comfortably.

Besides riding, her owners also plan to drive her, so I am doing some preliminary training to get her ready to be hitched to a cart.  Once she is back home, they have some friends who are knowledgeable teamsters to help with cart training.

Day 1-9:  The first week was spent doing basic ground work.  She picked up lunging very quickly.  A whip was necessary most days to get her moving as she prefers standing over moving.  She stood like a seasoned horse during all of the desensitizing exercises and was not phased by the saddle.  She also learned how to pick up her front feet and stand still for trimming.

She could not have cared less about the pad.

Day 10:  Today was Babe's first ride!  She did awesome and had no problems with a rider on her back.  If she was any taller, I would need a mounting block.

Day 11:  Two days off for the weekend had no effect on Babe's response to her 2nd ride.  She was calm and relaxed like she had been doing this forever.  With help from a crop, she even trotted around with no funny business.

All Saddled Up

Day 12: To work toward her owner's goal of driving, I hooked up a sled for Babe to drag around the arena to get her used to hearing something behind her.  She was interested in what was behind her but it did not cause her to spook.  She pulled the sled at the walk and trot both directions.  Under saddle, she walked and trotted and turned with less resistance.

Ground Driving

Day 13: Babe's owner visited today to see her progress and she did everything I asked beautifully!  She demonstrated all of the skills she has learned so far and her owner was very excited to see her pull the sled.

Day 14-17: Now that Babe has had a few rides in the arena without issues, it is time to venture out into more wide open spaces.  First, I rode her in the small pasture.  Other than trying to grab a snack, she was as well behaved as she was in the arena.  Then, I moved on to riding in the large pasture.  This took her further away from her buddy (she didn't seem to mind, but he did!) and she went up and down steeper hills. 

Pasture Rides

Day 18 & 19: Babe started being stubborn about lifting her front feet.  When I go to pick up her foot, I can feel her shift all of her forehand weight onto that foot, making it impossible to pick up.  To correct this, I used the handle end of a crop to tap the fetlock.  I increased the intensity of the tapping until she picked up that foot.  After a few repetitions of this, she picked up her front feet as soon as I asked.  I also worked a lot with her on holding up her back feet.  She is pretty good about lifting her hind feet when you ask, but she doesn't like to keep them lifted.  

Day 20: Worked on improving turns and backing under saddle.  Continued to work with her on picking up her hind feet and holding them up.

Flexing

Day 21: I put the barrels out in the arena to give me more variety with the arena exercises.  A few exercises that I like to do with the barrels are: figure 8's, weaving, and small circles.  I also did some desensitizing in the saddle using a small flag.  She was mildly uncomfortable when I waved it over the top of her head but otherwise stood calmly.  She also crossed the wooden bridge over the creek without hesitation and we went for a short trail ride through the woods.

Day 22: I took her across the bridge again and we went for a longer trail ride.  Even with her buddy neighing frantically in the distance, she was calm and relaxed.  She also picked up all four feet great!

Day 23:  We tried bareback riding today!  I led her next to one of the barrels and climbed onto her back from there.  She looked at me a little funny as if she was thinking, "you forgot something".  Her back shape made riding bareback a bit uncomfortable, but she behaved perfectly!

Riding Bareback

Day 24-26: Continued to work on improving her bit response for turning, stopping, and backing.  Also worked on improving her response to leg cues to transition from halt to walk and walk to trot.  

Day 27:  Today, Babe gets to go home!  She showed off all of her new skills beautifully and her owners can't wait to start riding and driving her.  

Babe is a gentle giant with a sweet personality.  She is a quick learner and so calm and relaxed.  Babe was a pleasure to work with and I am eager to hear how she does with pulling a cart.

Training Horse Profile: Pearl the Pony

Training Goals:

• Desensitize to handling and everyday activities
• Gain confidence in hand and under saddle

Pearl was purchased at an auction and seemed to be a nice little pony.  She was purchased with the intent to use her as a lead line pony for the grandkids.  When her new owners brought her home, they immediately noticed that she was extremely spooky.  The slightest movement could cause her to spook and bolt.  When she bolted, she would yank the rope right out of their hand.  She was also hard to catch, and she couldn't even be touched without holding a pan of grain in front of her nose.

She demonstrated her spookiness upon her arrival by bolting when a gate closed behind her.  Her owner was able to hang onto the rope, but she dragged him a short ways across the pasture.  Thankfully, no significant injuries were sustained!

Week 1

After the previous night's demonstration, I was expecting her to be scared of everything, but that was not the case.  Interestingly, she was not afraid of the things we typically use for desensitizing.  I could shake plastic bags, swing whips, kick a large rubber ball into her, etc. and she would hardly notice.  But if I raised my arms or moved too quickly, she would bolt.  There’s a good chance that she was handled roughly by a previous owner or experienced some trauma that has resulted in this fear of people. 

• Leading: Since she tends to bolt, I switched her to a rope halter instead of a nylon halter.  This gave me a lot more control when she spooked and resulted in regaining control quickly after bolting.  Worked on improving her response to all directions of halter pressure.
• Desensitizing to human movement:  I did A LOT of jumping jacks throughout her training.  I found that raising my hands and jumping were the movements that most commonly caused her to spook.  
• Lunging:  I taught her to lunge both directions.  She picked up the left circle pretty quickly, but she was very resistant to the right circle.  She likes to keep people on her left side, so circling with her right side to me was very challenging for her.
• Round Penning:  This helped to teach her human body language, when to move and when to be still.  It can be a very helpful exercise to do with horses that are hard to catch.
• Pivots:  I taught her to move her forehand and hindquarters away from me in both directions.  This can aid in teaching a horse when a touch means to move and when it doesn't.

Desensitizing is a good rainy day activity.

Learning to Lunge

Week 2

I decided that she had improved enough on the ground to start doing some desensitizing in the saddle.  I was expecting her to ride nicely as she behaved perfectly in the sale ring, but boy was I wrong.  I had loose reins (my mistake) and I had barely sat down in the saddle when she lunged forward, head down, and took off bucking.  I was in no position to collect myself, so I exited the saddle, remounted and tried again.  I kept her on a short rein after that and the rest of that day was spent going in very small circles.  Very dizzying!  If I let her neck straighten out at all, she’d lunge into a buck.

She also did not stand still for mounting and would back up quickly once I had my foot in the stirrup.  Most of this week was spent working on standing still for mounting and riding in small circles to interrupt her bucking attempts.

Pearl looking pretty relaxed on the bridge.

Week 3

This week we made progress under saddle.  She is getting better at standing still for mounting and we were actually able to ride in some larger circles and straight lines.  She still wanted to buck when I first got on, but the duration of this got shorter each time.  She steers well, stops, and walks and trots on command.  She will now let me pet her and catch her without having grain in my hand.

Week 4

She was doing well in the arena, so it was time to see how she would react to more open space.  I started in the small pasture, just in case things went badly.  She was clearly eager to get out of the ring, but she behaved well.  The only issue was keeping her moving in the taller grass.  That green stuff is so tempting!

Later in the week, we moved on to the big pasture.  The machines at the top of the hill were a bit scary, but she worked through it and kept herself mostly under control.  The big horses running the fence line to meet her didn't bother her either.

Week 5

Time to move onto a bigger challenge.  This week we hit the trails.  She wasn’t sure about crossing the wooden bridge, so I got off and after a few attempts we walked across together.  I wanted the ride to be a positive experience so I didn’t want to push her too hard right at the beginning.  I always use extra caution when working with a horse on the bridge as it is a pretty good drop to the creek.  She was very looky on the trails and breathing heavy, but behaved respectably.  We encountered some swampy trails that she didn't want to go through, so we will give them a try another day.  Overall, it went very well.

The next day we headed out on the trails again.  This time I rode her across the bridge.  It took a couple approaches but I was able to get her across without much pushing.  She was much calmer and more relaxed.  After stopping for a few moments to check it out, she went through the swampy area as well.

Heavy rain interrupted trail riding for a day, but the covered stalls provided shelter to work on more desensitizing.  By this time she was pretty comfortable with most typical human interaction and no longer cared about my jumping jacks.

Back out on the trails again.  She didn’t want to leave the barn as much today, so I had to keep her moving forward.  No issues crossing the bridge or spooking, even though a large turkey flew out of the brush.

Happy Trails, Pearl!

Pearl made a lot of improvements over the five weeks of training and has grown a lot calmer.  When she first arrived, she would blow noisily at everything.  By the end, she rarely did.  She is much more comfortable with people and will walk up looking for a treat (not quite to petting range yet).  She is easier to catch, halter, and lead.  She usually stands still for mounting and she no longer tries to buck at the beginning of the ride.  She gained more trust in people and is not as easily startled by hand movements.  Her owners commented that they could see the difference in her, and that she was much calmer around them.  With continued love and handling, she will gain even more trust and confidence!

Training Horse Profile: Flicka #2

Training Goals:

• Picking up feet
• Trailer loading
• More comfortable with regular activities

Meet Flicka!

Flicka must be a popular name for bay mares, as this is the second one I have had for training 😊  This Flicka is approximately 10 years old.  Her owner has had her since she was a year old.  She had been sitting for a few years and developed some behavioral issues that the owner wanted to address.  Most of her behavioral issues stemmed from her resistance to submit to the handler and instead trying to assert her dominance. A video from a particularly challenging day:

Behavioral Issues:

• Invades handler's space
• Often kicks or rears when trying to work with her feet.  Issues with farrier.
• Pulling back when tied.
• Rearing on the lead line. Resists forward pressure.
• Bites when she doesn't want to do something.
• Kicks when you ask her to move her hindquarters away.
• Tries to bite when saddling.  Also may rear, strike, etc.
• Sometimes rears when riding.
• Trailer loading issues

This was a lot of issues to tackle in a relatively short amount of time but she made great progress in a lot of areas.

The owner remarked when he visited her the first time that she seemed like a different horse and "sleepy".  That's exactly what we want to see: a calm and relaxed horse!  We shouldn't have to fear being bitten, kicked, or run over when we turn our backs to the horse.

So, lets tackle some of these behavioral issues and what worked for her:

Invading the Handler's Space

Flicka had a serious problem with invading the handler's space, often dangerously so.  She pushed back if you tried to move her shoulder away and would kick out if you asked her to move her hip away. While leading, she would nip and sometimes would practically run you over.  Teaching her to yield her forehand and hindquarters really helped her to respect my space.  By the end of the 30 days, she was very responsive to cues to yield both her forehand and hindquarters and no longer tried to nip at me.

This is one of the most common problems I see with horses that are well loved by their owners.  We want our horses to be close to us and love on us!  The problem with allowing our horses to invade our space and push us around is that it creates behaviors that can quickly become very dangerous in situations where the horse is stressed or nervous, or gets spooked.  While Flicka really improved in this area, it is something that her owner will have to continue to reinforce to keep her respect.

It took four days to get her to walk across the bridge.

Feet Issues

Her owner was having difficulty picking up her feet without her rearing up or kicking.  Getting her feet trimmed was a huge hassle, sometimes even requiring the use of sedatives to get the job done. She made great strides with standing quietly while her front feet were lifted.  Her hind feet were harder to work with because she sometimes would kick, especially on the right side.  To keep myself safe, I started working with her hind legs using a dummy hand.  Once she was comfortable with that, I used a soft rope around her ankle to ask her to lift her leg while I stood at her shoulder (similar to a Scotch Hobble, but I do not tie the leg up).  This really helped her to get better at lifting the leg without kicking.

Using the Dummy Hand

Pulling Back When Tied/ Halter Pressure Resistance

Flicka has a history of pulling back and breaking halters and lead ropes.  A few times she has hurt herself in the process and, understandably, being tied up produces anxiety in her.  The fact that she pulls back is not super surprising as she is very resistant to halter pressure when leading and too much pressure causes her to back up or rear.  She has not learned to give to the halter pressure.

Old school method of correcting this problem is to tie the horse to something secure and let them tug and fight until they give up.  The idea is that they will eventually learn that they can't get away and the easiest thing to do is to stand there.  While this can work for some horses, but other horses won't give up and the result is an injured (or in worst-case scenario, dead) horse.  The "blocker tie ring" was developed for those exact reasons.  Teaching the horse to come towards the pressure is the first step in solving this issue safely.

While leading, if she backs away from the forward pressure of the halter or rears, I send her out and work her in a circle before applying forward pressure again.  This also works if the horse simply refuses to move.  By applying pressure on their hindquarters, they are unable to remain frozen or move backward and after some repetition, they will start to get the idea of coming forward to release the pressure on the poll.

Over the 30-days, she became less resistant to halter pressure, and her first instinct was no longer to rear or back up most of the time.  Continued practice with slow-release tying (such as using the blocker tie ring) will help her to build confidence about being tied.

Biting

When I first started working with her, I never took my eye off her or turned my back.  She would bite while haltering, leading, picking up feet, saddling, etc.  Biting is one vice I do not tolerate.  The key here is to make an immediate consequence, and then continue on with what you are doing.  A very effective deterrent is an elbow to the nose while she is in the process of trying to bite.  By the third week she rarely tried to bite me anymore.

Ground Driving

Hindquarters

If you asked her to move her hindquarters she would push into you and sometimes try to kick.  To work on this issue, I use the handle end of a lunge whip as an extension of my arm to apply the pressure on the hip.  This gives me a few extra feet and allows me to stay in a safer position.  After she was doing well while using the whip, I could use my hand, and kicking was no longer an issue.

Saddling Issues

I expect horses to stand while they are being saddled, regardless of whether they are tied.  Flicka would stand okay when putting on the pad and saddle, but as soon as you were ready for the girth she would try to run away.  If you stopped her forward movement, she would rear.  Try to grab the girth and watch out for those teeth!  I did an experiment by using a rope around her girth area and applying tightening pressure that way.  Interestingly, she stood still for that and had almost no response to the rope, even though I was cinching it just as tight as the saddle.  So, her reactions really weren't about the cinch, she just didn't want to be saddled.  

To fix this, any time she want to move while I was saddling, I made her work.  Lunge her for a couple of minutes and then try saddling again.  After a couple days of this, she figured it was just easier to stand there and get saddled.  She still would give me "the look" while cinching, but she didn't dare try to bite!

Round Penning- Great Respect Building Exercise

Trailer

When Flicka arrived, she had only been on a trailer twice in her life: once as a baby, and to bring her to me.  I suggested that her owner put her food and water on the trailer, and when she got in to eat, he shut the door and brought her to me.  Feeding on the trailer is one of my favorite ways to get horses comfortable with trailers (read more, here) but once she was here she wouldn't get on the trailer to eat her food.  After a few days, we had to move on to plan B.  First she would lead up the the trailer and stop when she couldn't move forward any further without stepping up.  We built a bridge to simulate the height of stepping into the trailer for her to get comfortable with.  At first, she would just jump OVER the bridge, but after four days of work, she crossed over in any direction without any hesitation.

Back to the trailer, now that we knew she was confident in stepping up, we knew she could do the trailer.  Any further pressure on the halter would cause her to back away, but having a second person behind tapping a whip on the ground was very effective motivation for her to get on the trailer.  As the days went by, she needed less and less motivation from behind to get into the trailer.

At first she had a habit of backing out very quickly and sometimes throwing her head up (hit her head a couple of times).  Repetition helped her to relax about backing up and not rush out.

Trying to entice her with food!

Flicka learned that she could eat if she was in the trailer!

Ways to Show Your Horse Leadership

A large cause of most of her issues is the lack of trust in human leadership.  She wanted to be dominant and a lot of her behaviors were her asserting that dominance.  By regaining personal space for the handler and cultivating respect, a lot of her problems went away.  Ways to regain your horse's respect:

• Maintain your personal space.  YOU move the horse, the horse doesn't move you.
• Teach the horse to yield the forehand, hindquarters, and back up.  The better they are at this, the more respectful they are of your space AND the easier it is to move them out of your space.
• Try round penning.  It is a great way to exercise your horse, teach them to respond to your body language, and reinforce your leadership.  You tell the horse when to switch directions and use your body presence to enforce it.
• Try obstacles! Bridges, tarps, water, jumps, etc. can be a great way to build trust with your horse.  As a bonus, the more your horse is exposed to, the more confident they will be in new situations.

Training Tip: The Dummy Hand

Do you have a horse that is overly sensitive to touch?  Maybe just touching certain areas causes them to bolt or kick.  A dummy hand is a safer way to desensitize these types of horses while keeping the handler in a safer position.  Dummy hands can be especially useful for desensitizing the hindquarters and hind legs.

Making one is super simple, and you probably already have all of the materials!  Here's how to do it:

MATERIALS:

• Sturdy pole, like a broom handle
• Glove
• Plastic bags
• Ductape

PUTTING IT TOGETHER:

Stuff the plastic bags into the glove.  Make sure to get the bags into the finger tips.  Keep stuffing the glove until it is stiff.  Tape the glove securely onto one end of the broom handle.  That's it! Your dummy hand is complete.

HOW TO USE IT:

Allow your horse to sniff the dummy hand first.  Then, stroke your horse with the dummy hand on a spot they are comfortable with (typically the shoulder is a good place to start).  Hold on to your horse's lead rope as you work, but allow some slack in the lead.  Make sure your lead is short enough, however, that they are not able to swing their hindquarters towards you to kick.  Gradually move across their body to new areas, stroking until they are relaxed and comfortable.  Make sure to use the dummy hand on both sides!

**EARLY BIRD SPECIAL**

Book your training dates by April 15th and save $50 on 30 days of training!  A non-refundable deposit* must be received by this date to reserve your horse's training spot and to receive the discount.

**Now booking for 2020.  First available date is May 2nd**

Services include:

*Colt Starting

*Behavioral Correction

*Tune-Ups

*Pattern Starting (Poles, Barrels, etc.)

*Trail Training (Crossing water and bridges, traffic desensitization, etc.)

Training packages are available in 30-day increments (a shorter duration may be available depending on the service requested) and includes feed and board.  Fee is typically $625 for 30-days.  Potential clients are welcome to see where their horse will be staying and meet me in person before bringing their horse to me, if they wish.  Ask about my discounts for having more that one horse in training at a time.

If your horse is feeling spunky, book a spring tune-up!

*The non-refundable deposit is $50 for 30-days, and $75 for 60-days.  If the original date reserved does not work, a different date may be scheduled (provided I have an opening).  If I am unable to take your horse due to unforeseen circumstances on the agreed upon date and an alternate date cannot be arranged, the deposit will be refunded.

Training Horse Profile: Flicka (Part 2)

Training Goals:

• 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 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.  

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.
  

Training Horse Profile: Flicka (Part 1)

Training Goals:

• Leading
• Tying
• Saddling

Things I work on every day:

• Grooming: This helps the horse get used to being touched and handled, as well as provides relaxing bonding time.

• Picking up Feet: This is a skill that takes time for most horses to master.  Picking up their feet daily can help make it a routine activity for the horse.  When teaching this, I try to only give the foot back when they are standing quietly.  In the beginning, this may only be a second or two, but the time can be gradually increased.

• Round Penning: This is a great way to warm up the horse's muscles and get them mentally prepared to begin learning.  Lots of directional changes, speed changes, and halts makes this exercise more beneficial for the horse and prevents it from becoming mind-numbing circles.  It is a great time to work on vocal cues, which are helpful for later training under saddle, and builds respect and trust.

• Tying: I tie training horses up after sessions to get accustomed to being tied and help them build patience.  If time allows, tying before AND after training sessions is very beneficial to the horse and can help break buddy sourness and barn sourness.
• To begin, I 'tie' by wrapping the rope around the round pen panel a couple of times.  This gives tension on the rope if she tries to move away but if she panics it will slowly let out rope.  This prevents the horse from hurting themselves from pulling back when they are still learning how to give to pressure.  Once the horse is good with wrap-tying, I start tying them up in the stall after I work them.  I always use a quick release knot just in case.  I do not hard tie to the round pen panels because they are not strong enough if the horse pulls back hard.

Flicka is a 9 year old Quarter Horse mare, with no previous training.  The owner has worked with her on standing to be haltered and allowing people to pet her.  She has not been taught anything else, so I have a lot of work ahead of me!

We backed the trailer up to the round pen gate so that we could unload her right into the enclosed arena.  That way I could start working with her on leading in a safe and controlled area and I didn't have to worry about trying to get her back and forth from the stall to the round pen when she doesn't know how to lead!  I have two small pens attached to the round pen for this reason.  I can chase horses into the stalls if they don't want to be caught, or if they don't yet have leading skills.

Day 1: My first task is to teach Flicka to lead.  It is difficult to move horses from pastures to stalls to arenas if they can't lead.  Plus, all future training is easier to accomplish when the horse has good ground manners.

Flicka's first instinct when she doesn't understand something or when she gets upset by pressure is to throw her head up and back away.  When forward pressure was applied on the lead rope, she threw her head up and backed quickly away.  Some horses are quick to realize that if they come to the pressure, it goes away.  But for Flicka, more pressure on the halter just made her pull back harder. Playing tug-of-war with a horse is not very effective and the horse always wins!  

To help her to understand what I am asking, I begin by asking her to move her hindquarters away from me.  This introduces pressure on the side of her nose and jaw.  To get her to move her hindquarters away, I walk towards her hip and give pressure by swinging the end of the lead rope.  I keep her nose turned toward me so that it is less likely that she can kick me and it makes it a natural response to step her hindquarters away.  At first, I am looking for basically a forehand pivot (front feet are mostly stationary and the hindquarters move in a circle around them).  As the horse begins to understand the concept, I start to lead off from the pivot.  I usually can get a few steps before the horse realizes the pressure change and stops.  Then I go right back to pivots.

I also introduced her to lunging.  She really struggled with going forward and too much pressure caused her to bolt and take off.  I decided to try lunging another day and we switched to round penning.

Day 2: After the challenging day yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when she practically starting leading right from the start.  If there was too much pressure on the lead, I'd have to go back to moving her hindquarters to get her moving forward again.  

Tried again at lunging.  This time I put a rope halter on her.  This helped a lot in keeping her from bolting off and I was able to get her to start moving off in a circle.  

I also started working with her on picking up her front feet.  It is so much more challenging to teach an adult horse, weighing upwards of 1,000 lbs, how to pick up their feet and hold them up!  Flicka was not thrilled with this and did all the behaviors that are much easier to handle when they're babies: pulling foot away, leaning into me, backing away, hopping on three legs, etc.  

Day 3: After warming up with leading and lunging, I introduced Flicka to the saddle pad!  She did  really well with this.  I always begin by letting the horse sniff the blanket and then rubbing it on their shoulder and back.  If they are good with that, then I start laying it over the back.  I threw it on her from both sides, on her butt, up on her neck, she was completely fine with it.  Another one of the horses in training injured my back and doing heavy lifting is off limits right now, so I have to take a break from working on picking up her feet.

Day 4:  Introduced her to the saddle and bridle!  She was fine with the saddle, but was a little unsure about it when I cinched it up.  I always do this step while holding the lead rope, not tied up, in cause the horse panics.  She backed up when tightening it up but otherwise no issues.  She took the bit pretty good as well.  Lunged her to help her get accustomed to the feel of the saddle and girth.  No bucking and she seemed pretty comfortable with it.

Day 5: Started with lunging with the saddle and bridle.  Then I hooked up the long lines for ground driving to  begin to teach her about bit pressure.  Right away she turned pretty good but panicked when pressure was placed on both reins.  She bolted a few times

Day 6-10:  Continued to work with her on ground driving, improving her turning, and working on stopping without panicking.  I also began to desensitize her to mounting.  I desensitize on both side by slapping the saddle and pad, shaking the saddle, flopping the stirrups against her sides, putting pressure down on the stirrup.  This is to get her ready for her first ride.  I don't want to swing into the saddle and have her spook because the saddle is making noise, or the stirrups are bumping her sides, jumping next to her.  I want her used to a lot of activity on her back.

Day 11: She has really improved in her ground driving.  She will now stop AND back up WITHOUT panicking!  This is one of the skills I want before I get in the saddle.  I want the horse to know how to stop and stand still.  Now that she is fine with me jumping next to her and lots of saddle noise, I start putting my foot in the stirrup and bouncing.  This puts weight onto her back and prepares them for mounting.  She was not comfortable with this.

Day 12:  Ground driving great with back, halt, and turning.  Continued work on foot in stirrup.  She backs up and looks to run away.

Day 13: Slight improvement with mounting practice!  I was able to put foot in stirrup with some weight.  My lower back injury has healed up so we are back to working on picking up her feet.

Day 14 & 15: Mounting practice and feet pick up.  I am getting a lot of exercise bouncing next to her with one foot in the stirrup!  I am definitely more sweaty than she is when we are finished for the day.

Day 16:  I was finally able to stand in the stirrup!  She stood calmly  while I stood in the stirrup over her back.  I was beginning to think she was never going to accept this step, so this is a huge relief.  I know that now she is mentally ready for her first ride.  She also picked up both of her front feet without trying to pull them away!  This was a great day!

Stay tuned for my next post where we will see how Flicka does with riding!