All The Kings' Horses

I worked with Baker for about 27 minutes today.  I had some help today, so Baker got some extra scratches and Fiona got a nice long grooming session too!  I led Baker to the tree, tied him, groomed him and flysprayed him.  Once I was done with all that, I turned the clippers on.  He did not seem startled or anxious at all, and since he had wanted to play with them on Monday, I let him go for it again today.  And he did!  He reached for them and tried to touch them and play with them and nibble on them.  The whole time he did that, I was scratching his withers (his favorite spot).  Up until now, when I have let him touch the clippers, I have let him touch the casing, or the part that I would normally hold on to.  It's much smoother, and he is less likely to cut himself when he jerks his head around, and he still gets to feel the vibrations and hear the noise.  Since he was handling all this so well, I decided to let him test out the side that actually does the clipping.  He did not

I worked with Baker yesterday for about 24 minutes.  Once I haltered him, I worked on leading him to the tree.  He took a little encouragement from the whip, but no more or less than the past few times.  He did seem a little hesitant once we got closer to the tree.  His last lesson was a little tough, so he might have been thinking about that as we approached.  Once we got there, I tied him, groomed him, flysprayed him and picked his feet.  Last week, my farrier came out to trim and reshoe a few horses.  Fiona and Baker were on his list.  At this point, there isn't much that needs to be trimmed off of a baby horse's feet, but it's a good way to ease them into the process.  Unfortunately, I wasn't there when they stopped by, but they sent me a picture and a note - "So, Baker acted like he's been trimmed 1000 times". It looks like all the hard work and repetition with handling Baker and his feet has paid off!  I was so excited to hear that!  Getting a bab

Yesterday's session with Baker was probably the hardest one yet.  I worked with him for about 40 minutes.  It started well enough - he walked up to me and I put the halter on.  I led him to the tree, and he was fabulous!  I only had to tell him "walk on" 3 times, and each time took very little encouragement.  For the most part, he was walking at my side just like a horse is supposed to.  I tied him to the tree, groomed him, flysprayed him and picked his feet.  Then came the hard part.  I turned on the clippers.  He didn't react for a while.  I let him hear them, then I started to rub them all over his body, staying away from his neck at first.  He still didn't react.  Then I started to move up his neck and chest slowly.  He still didn't react.  I waited for him to give signs of relaxation - licking and chewing, lowering his head and softening his eyes.  He gave me all that, so I moved on to touch the clippers to the side of his jaw.  Then he reacted!  He spent

I worked with Baker for about 36 minutes yesterday.  I started out by haltering and leading him to the tree.  Since I was on my own yesterday, I used an in-hand whip to encourage him from behind.  Every time I put pressure on the halter to move forward, I simultaneously told him to "walk on", and if he did not respond promptly, I tapped him on the behind with the whip.  He actually walked quite well by my side with very little encouragement from the whip.  However, when we got closer to the tree, I noticed a small river running nearby. The "river" in Baker's paddock We have had way too much rain lately, and there is a small creek that runs through the woods near his paddock.  When it rains really hard, the creek sometimes overflows and runs through the paddock.  As we got closer to the water, Baker was definitely concerned.  He slowed down, and it took a lot more encouragement to get him to walk forward.  So, he had his first eventing lesson!  I continued t

I worked with Baker for about 33 minutes today.  Megan was here to help me, so we were able to get a lot done with him.  We started by haltering and leading him to the tree.  Megan helped by tapping him with the whip whenever I asked him to walk forward.  He was walking much better by my side, with a lot less effort.  He did stop often, and have to be reminded often, but it did not take much of a cue to get him restarted.  Once we got to the tree, I tied him, flysprayed him, groomed him and picked up his feet.  He was fabulous for all of this!  For the next step, I untied him, and went back to just running the lunge line through the ring.  Megan held the tail end, while I turned on the clippers. Baker did not jump, and in fact, he reached out to touch the clippers.  He is very curious!  Most horses will startle at the sound of the clippers, and startle again when they touch the clippers or when the clippers touch them.  When he reached out to touch the clippers, he did not jump at that

I got a little behind in my writing, so I'm going to combine the last two training sessions in one blog.  I worked with Baker for about 21 minutes on Tuesday, and about 18 minutes today.  I had some help on both days, so I decided to work with him on something new.  I started on Tuesday by making a short video of how to properly put a halter on a young or nervous horse.  I won't go into detail here, but check out the video.  Baker was very "helpful" during the filming, so it might be a little silly ☺.  After the video, I walked him towards the tying tree.  I feel like he has been a bit sluggish in his walk work using the butt rope, so on Tuesday, I had someone help me by tapping him on his hind end with a long whip anytime I applied pressure on his halter and gave him the verbal command "walk on".  It is very important that the helper only taps him with the whip at the same time I apply pressure on the halter.  When I give him the voice command, that is th

I worked with Baker for about  17 minutes yesterday.  He walked right up to me and followed me around for a bit while I set stuff up.  He had wandered away when I was ready to halter him, but as I walked up to him, I noticed that he had a very different attitude.  He is usually very curious and snuggly, but yesterday, he seemed to have more of a business-like attitude.  He knew exactly what I was there to do with him, and he stood very still while I haltered him, and then he waited very patiently for me to tell him what to do.  He was very no-nonsense about it, and ready to get to "work".  It was awesome!  He still took a lot of encouragement from the butt rope to lead to the tree.  We did have a long walk yesterday, but he tried to stop alot along the way.  Once we got there, I decided to tie him to the tree for all the work.  Even though he has been struggling some with the flyspray, he doesn't struggle hard, so I'm not really worried about him hurting himself.  I s

I worked with Baker on Wednesday for about 26 minutes.  Dylan was hanging out with me and helping a little, so we took a little more time snuggling and loving on him.  He walked right up to me and followed me around while I was getting ready.  Once I approached him and put the halter on, we weren't that far from the tree, so he walked fairly willingly when I asked him to.  I did have to use a little pressure with the butt rope, but only a little, and only twice.  Once at the tree, I looped the rope through the ring and started to flyspray him.  I still had to do it in stages, as opposed to one continuous spray.  But he settled down much more quickly and fussed a lot less.  I think he only pulled back once, and with very little pressure too!  Since he hasn't been pulling back at all while grooming, I decided to tie him for real for that part.  I used a double quick release knot.  I'll try to remember to take a picture to include in the next blog.  A quick release knot is one

I worked with Baker for about 30 minutes on Saturday.  One of my students, Rebecca, wanted to learn some of what I do with Baker during his training sessions, and also wanted to help out, so we combined her lesson with Baker's training session. He is usually a little more cautious when I come to see him with a visitor, so he didn't walk right up to me like he usually does.  Eventually, he will learn that most of the people that he comes in contact with will be a good thing.  Saturday went much like the last few sessions.  Once I got his halter on, we worked on leading towards the tree.  It took much less pressure from the butt rope, and he walked much more willingly.  He did try to bite me once while we were walking.  It was much less aggressive than the last time, but I still reprimanded him sharply for it.  Once he was "tied" at the tree, I started with the flyspray.  He struggled a bit more this time than he has the last few times, but he did eventually relax.  

I worked with Baker today for about 16 minutes.  I started out by putting his halter on, which he was very good for.  In fact, he came right up to me today, and followed me as I walked through his field to put his groom bucket near the "tying tree".  He ended up being much closer to me than he was to his mom.  He is definitely becoming more independent!  After I put his halter on, I led him to the tree.  I did use the butt rope today, but I only had to apply pressure with it twice, and he walked much more willingly beside me today, with much less stopping.  Once at the tree, I "tied" him by running the lunge line through the ring and holding it myself.  I started out with the flyspray again today.  He did still struggle quite a bit, probably about as much as he did on Wednesday, but that was the only time he tried to pull away from me at all.  After I had successfully flysprayed him all over, I spent time grooming him with all his brushes.  He loves that part so muc

On Wednesday, I worked with Baker for about 18 minutes.  I started out by changing out his halter.  He has gotten quite a bit bigger since I first put his suckling halter on, and now he has graduated to a regular, weanling halter (it looks just like a regular horse halter, but much smaller).  His first halter was made of leather, and made to be left on him all the time so that he was easier to catch.  This new halter is made of nylon.  Nylon halters without breakaway straps should never be left on a horse.  Horses are very good at getting themselves caught on things, and if the halter can't break, then something else will.  Now that Baker comes up to me so willingly, and is so easy to catch, I don't need to leave a halter on him all the time.  So, this one will be coming off when I am done working with him each time.  Once I had his halters switched around, I worked on  leading him to the "tying tree".  I reverted back to using a butt rope while leading him because