All The Kings' Horses

Baker was awesome today, and Fiona was a lot better too!  Fiona actually walked up to me today, rather than walking away and trying to avoid me and hide Baker.  Slowly, but surely, she is starting to come around.  While I held and fly sprayed Fiona, Baker couldn't wait for me to turn my attention to him.  He followed me around while I dealt with his mom, and kept trying to touch me and get my attention.  He is definitely a snuggler, and definitely craves attention!  I worked with him for about 9 minutes today.  He was super easy to catch since he was coming up to me and following me around.  It was simply a matter of taking a hold of his halter and attaching the leadline.  A lot of babies will jump slightly whenever you grab their halters, but he just stood there and waited patiently for me to attach the line.  I started by rubbing him all over again.  I always want to start and end our sessions on a positive note, since those are the things he will remember the most.  I have to fi

I worked with Baker today for about 20 minutes.  Fiona seemed a little bit more relaxed with my presence, and she only got upset once while I was working with him.  He was fabulous with everything I had previously done - he came right up to me and let me rub him all over, even on his face, he was fine with the leadline on too.  We didn't do any leading around today because I was working solo.  He did do a little bit of leaning, but he was quickly reminded that is not ok.  Baby horses are no different from baby people - they all like to push boundaries and see what they can get away with.  It's up to us, the trainer or parents, to set and maintain the boundaries, and instill consequences that are firm but fair.  Since he was so good with everything else, I decided to really work on picking up his feet.  I had touched on this lesson a few days ago, but only for a minute or two, nothing too intense.  I only focused on the front feet today.  Once the front feet are easy, then i'

Baker was so good today!  Megan was here to help me again, so she held on to Fiona while I started working with Baker.  He came right up to me and showed no resistance when I took his halter to snap on the leadline.  He showed no resistance to me touching him all over, including all over his face either.  He also didn't try to lean on me today (we'll see how long that lasts).  So, since he was so fabulous, and since I had help today, I decided to give him his first leading lesson.  I kind of have to play this first lesson by ear, since I don't really know if the baby will be a leader or follower yet.  Baker was a little of both - he started out a leader, but then settled in to being a follower.  Basically, it works like this - I put Baker's leadline from the left side, over his back and around his rump and pass it back to my right hand.  So I am holding both the front part of the leadline (where it's snapped on to his halter), and the tail end of the leadline.  Also

When I worked with Baker yesterday, we worked for about 16, doing a lot of the same stuff that I had done the day before (that's how training goes, after all, lots of repetition).  He seemed a bit more curious to see me, and less afraid, and he was easier to catch.  He definitely seemed to enjoy me touching him all over, and really got in to it when I rubbed his favorite spots - his neck and rump.  He was in to it so much that he started leaning all over me, catching me off guard, and almost knocking me down!  I thought it was just a one time thing for him, but I discovered throughout the session, that this is another little quirk of his.  He tried to lean against me several more times, and I caught him trying to lean against his mom too.  And it's not a gentle affectionate type of leaning, it's more of a I'm-going-to-lean-on-you-because-I-can't-stand-on-my-own-four-feet type of leaning.  Most people think these little things that horses do when they are babies are

Rainy days are perfect days to work with babies, since they don't require that you get on them in an arena or out in the field, and get soaked in the process.  I worked with Baker today in his stall.  My working student Megan held Fiona still for me today since she had been a little pushy and possessive the last few times (just being a good mom).  Baker was much easier to catch today, and seemed a little more curious and not as frightened today.  I worked with him for about 20 minutes.  I started out just holding him.  Once he relaxed, I would relax my grip, but not completely let him go.  It did not take long for him to remain relaxed with me holding him.  I spent a lot of time rubbing him all over - neck, shoulders, back, belly, rump.  I have started to find the areas that he really likes being rubbed - mostly his neck down near where it connects to his chest.  He did not like me touching his rump at first, but then he realized that it actually felt a little good when I scratched

Despite having a very busy day of horses to ride, lessons to teach, and a horse show to get ready for, I still managed to find time to work with Baker on Friday.  Our session was about 20 minutes.  I attached a lead line to his little baby halter, and worked on getting him to yield to pressure on the halter.  Whenever he tried to go forward or away from me, I would apply pressure on the halter and yield his haunches away from me in a circle until he relaxed and stopped trying to get away from me.  I also worked on holding him around his chest and hind end.  He would struggle to get away at first, but whenever he relaxed, I would let him go.  In this way, he learns to relax when I touch him.  There was a lot of struggling this time, but it will get better with lots of repetition.  I've also noticed that he likes to keep his tongue stuck out.  It can often be found out the right side of his mouth.  I think he's going to be a quirky little guy! That's all for now.

Well, I was finally able to do a little something with Baker today.  When I approached him and Fiona, she seemed much more relaxed with my presence.  Today's session pretty much consisted of just holding him and touching him all over.  He needs to get used to being touched by a person and being restrained.  The main rule of thumb right now is that I don't stop doing whatever it is I'm doing until he relaxes.  Then I stop immediately.  So, as I rubbed him all over is neck, back, belly, rump, legs, face, ears, poll, nose - I only stopped rubbing and moved on to the next spot when he had relaxed and stopped resisting against me.  I also managed to pick up each of his front feet today to get him used to having to stand on 3 legs while the farrier has to work on him in the future.  He was more resistant to this than anything else, but as soon as he quieted down, I put his foot down.  I only spent about 15 minutes with him today because Fiona was starting to get restless.  Tomorr

Hi folks, I had really hoped to get this post up sooner, but I had technical difficulties - technically, technology was being difficult!  Anyway, better late than never.  I had been checking Fiona's udders twice, sometimes three times, per day for the last couple of weeks, looking to see if her milk had changed from a clear, yellowish liquid, to a milky white liquid.  This sign indicates that she would foal sometime in the next 12-48 hours.  Saturday morning, still no change, but by 6:15pm that night, it had finally changed and she was actively dripping!  Now, when her milk had changed last year, it took a good 24 hours before we got to meet the new filly, but Fiona was not going to take her time this year.  She was extremely agitated, and by 10:32pm she laid down and her water broke.  It only took 8 minutes before the new baby was fully delivered - at 10:40 PM on Saturday April 15, 2017.  And it was a colt!  I had been hoping for a filly, but it's all good, I'm still sup

I have been thinking about writing a blog for some time now.  There are so many things I can think of to write about, but one keeps coming back to me.  I am a horse trainer and riding instructor at my own small farm.  I have enjoyed horses in a wide variety of disciplines, including hunters, jumpers, dressage, eventing, saddle seat, western pleasure, english pleasure, halter and carriage driving.  I have worked with a number of different LA Baltic Sundance breeds of horses, including Paints, Swedish Warmbloods, Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Mustangs, draft crosses, mules, Welsh ponies, Canadian Warmbloods, Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walking Horses, Hanoverians, Oldenburgs, Appaloosas, Morgans, Hackneys, as well as a number of crosses. I have taught students to ride in hunters, jumpers, dressage, eventing, western, saddleseat and carriage driving.  I have foaled out at least a dozen mares, and started horses from the ground up for many years.  In this day and age of instant