All The Kings' Horses

On Friday I worked with Baker for about 25 minutes.  I had a helper, Natalie, so I decided that it would be a good time for him to learn something new.  We started out with lots of scratching, as usual.  Then I worked on leading him.  When we first started, he was at the front of his paddock.  The goal was to get him to a tree in the back of his paddock where I have a ring attached to which I can work with him on standing tied.  Fiona was eating hay in the front of the paddock, so in order to keep him comfortable and relaxed, we moved her and some of her hay back near the tree as well.  I did make him go first so he could work on leading away from her.  He did fairly well.  He panicked a little when he got too far from her (about 50 feet), but I held my ground, and once he realized that he couldn't get away, and that he was going to be ok, he calmed down.  Once we got to the tree, I attached a longe line (a rope that is about 30 feet long, used for longeing horses - more on that la

Well, it has been quite a while since I have been able to write a new post about Baker's training.  I hurt my back about a week and a half ago, so I was limiting myself to only do what was absolutely necessary.  And, unfortunately, working with a young foal is definitely low on the list of priorities.  However, I have been feeling a lot better this week, although, I had a lot of catch up work to take care of first.  So, today was the first day that I was able to get back to work with my little buddy.  I spent about 23 minutes with him today, and we mostly worked on reviewing the stuff that we had done last time.  I did pick him out a few small brushes from my collection so that I could start brushing him down.  I started with that today, and he absolutely loved it!  He stood very quietly while I brushed him all over with a gently curry comb, a hard brush (not too hard), a soft brush and a mane comb.  I flysprayed him today, and for all but one second, he stood completely still.  He

Another busy week, but I did manage to get two training sessions in with Baker on Wednesday and Friday for about 16-20 minutes each time.  Each session started with lots of snuggles.  When I am taking folks out to visit with him, he is a little startled at first with each new person.  But once they start petting and rubbing and loving on him, he stands still as a statue, closes his eyes and soaks it all in.  He has even started to give hugs!  Gently, of course.  He definitely understands that he will get reprimanded if he pushes too hard or leans too much on a person. Anyway, back to training.  In both sessions, I worked with him on picking up his feet, holding them, and tapping on the bottoms.  I also added actually picking them out and cleaning them with the hoofpick this week.  That was a non issue for him.  He did panic once while I was holding one of his back feet, but I believe that it was actually because Fiona panicked about some unseen boogey man that might attack her baby.

Sorry it has taken so long to write.  It has been a hectic past few days with a clinic, a show and several other things going on.  I did manage to work with Baker 3 times over the past several days, I just didn't have any chances to write about it.  So, i'll sum up all three sessions in this blog today.  All three sessions were pretty similar anyway.  I worked with him for about 14-18 minutes each time.  On Friday, it was just me, but on Saturday and Monday I had a helper.  We mostly worked on reviewing what he has been doing.  He came right up to me all three days, and I started and ended all three sessions with a lot of rubbing and scratching.  He was mostly good about not leaning - I only had to remind him a time or two each day.  The next task in each session was to pick up all four feet, hold them like the farrier will, and tap them with the hoofpick.  He mostly handled all of this like a champ!  He struggled once or twice each day, but once he realized I wouldn't let

So, Baker has impressed me again!  I really LOVE working with this baby!  I spent about 11 minutes working with him yesterday, and we got A LOT done in that time.  When I first went out to see him, I called his name and he nickered back at me and came towards me.  For the entire session, he stayed at least 30 feet away from his mom, and was completely relaxed with me.  Fiona was also relaxed about him being that far away.  I started out with rubbing and snuggling, as usual.  Then I reviewed picking up his front feet and putting them between my legs.  (I added a picture in "training session 6" to show everyone how this is done).  Since that went so well again, I decided to add another step - tapping his feet with a hoofpick.  When the farrier eventually has to put shoes on Baker, he will have to bang on his feet pretty hard with a hammer.  This does NOT hurt the horse, but the noise and pressure can be very scary.  The desensitization that I worked on with him will help him to

Baker was so adorable this morning!  As I walked out to his field, I called out his name, and he picked up his head and whinnied at me!  Before I had even walked in to the field, he was already walking up to greet me, away from his mom!  This is such a huge step towards he and I becoming a winning team one day!  Obviously, it took no effort at all to catch him.  He received what he was hoping for - a lot of rubbing, especially in his favorite spots - under his neck, on top of his mane, his rump, and his forehead.  He really sucked it all up and even snuggled with me (without pushing or leaning on me).  After spending a little time loving all over him, I started by picking up his front feet again.  He stood perfectly still for all of that.  Since Megan was here to help, and since Fiona was doing really well (she kept to herself and ate while she ignored us), I had Megan hold Baker while I picked up his back feet.  He offered very little resistance to this, and after just a couple of tri