Baker training session 27 - more clippers, and a note from my farrier!

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 baby to the point where he will stand quietly for the farrier is like a big test in school, and we passed!  Anyway, back to yesterday's lesson.  Once I had finished with all the basic stuff, I started in with the clippers again.  I turned them on and proceeded to run them all over his body.  He seemed a little tense and unsure, but he stood still.  After going over his body, I moved up to his neck on both sides.  Same reaction, but he did seem to relax a little.  Then I moved on to his face.  This time, instead of blowing up and fighting, he stood still.  Tense, but still.  I just kept the clippers very still against the side of his face, and pretty soon I started to notice him lower his head.  It was just a little, but that is a sign that he was starting to relax.  I pulled the clippers away to give him a little break and to let him know that he was heading in the correct direction.  Every time I pulled the clippers away, I would switch sides as well.  He still seemed more tense on his left side, but nowhere near as upset as the last time.  He pretty much stood still the entire time.  After a few repetitions of just holding the clippers to his face, he started to soften his eyes and lick and chew.  Then, when I pulled the clippers away, he tried to touch them with his muzzle.  So, I let him play with them a little bit.  Also, every time he relaxed or softened or tried to touch the clippers, I would scratch his favorite spot on his withers.  By the end, he was standing very relaxed with the clippers touching both sides of his face, and he was "playing" with the clippers with his muzzle.  I decided that was a good place to stop for the day.  It didn't take very long to get to this point, and he probably could have handled more, but the last session had been pretty tough, and he seemed to remember that.  I wanted to leave him with a new, more positive memory.  One of the toughest things in training a horse is deciding when to stop.  It is so easy to say "I got this far, I bet I could get just a little farther", or "That one was so good, I bet the next one will be even better!", or "Just one more time".  Knowing when to stop is the hardest, and I'm always questioning myself on this one.  For me, it's more obvious after we have had a tough session - I usually want to keep the next session as brief and positive as possible.  It's so easy to get greedy, so I try really hard to keep that in mind when I'm working with a horse.  One of my mentors once told me, when working with young horses especially, that it's not enough to think about how much stress you are putting on their bodies, you also have to think about how much stress you are putting on their minds.  It is very easy to overwhelm their little brains.  One of my goals, when working with any horse, younger or older, is to leave them feeling more confident each time, and to have them looking forward to me coming back to work with them.  That doesn't always happen, like with the previous session.  So, when it doesn't, I try to make the next session even more positive.  On that note, I felt pretty good about where I ended things with Baker and the clippers yesterday.  After we were done with that, I led him back to Fiona.  We practiced a few halts, which he did ok for.  He was a little fussy and in a hurry to get back to her, but I waited patiently and reprimanded him when he tried to walk away or fuss, until he stood still.  Once we got closer, we practiced a few trot sets.  They weren't the best - Fiona was in a tight spot in the field, so it was hard to get around her.  And Baker mostly tried to canter instead of trot, but he did stay beside me while doing it, so I didn't push it for today.  When we finished, I asked him to stand still and put his head down.  The standing still part took the longest, but as soon as I asked him to put his head down, he responded immediately.  I think that's his favorite part!  Yesterday's session definitely had a better feel to it at the end.  There will always be tough sessions, like the last one, so it's important to reflect on those sessions when you are thinking about how to proceed the next time.  I also noticed that Baker seemed to be reflecting as well.  Sometimes the horse needs a day or two to think about things too.  Moments like this give me a chance to see how he thinks, and it gives him a chance to see how I will handle things as well.  This is a great opportunity for us to build trust.  And riding a horse, and eventually asking him to carry me across country and over large, scary obstacles, is going to take a lot of trust on both our parts!