Baker training session 33 - spa day!
I worked with Baker on Friday this week. I ended up spending about 51 minutes with him, which is definitely longer than I usually recommend working with a young baby, but most of that time was spent with him standing in the cross ties drying off while I did other little barn chores. We started out with another bath. This time I tied him straight to the tree with a quick release knot. He has been so respectful about being tied (*knocks wood), and he was completely relaxed about bathing for most of his session last time, so I wasn't really worried about him doing anything this time either. And he didn't let me down - he didn't even startle when I turned the hose on, and was pretty quiet for the majority of the bath. This time, I even tried spraying his face. I used the very lightest setting on the spray nozzle. I think it's called the "mist" setting. I pointed the sprayer way up high, over his head, so the water rained down on him. He did startle at first with that, but immediately relaxed and got into it. Once he realized he liked it, he let me spray his face straight on. I know I've said this before, but he keeps surprising me with little things like this. I have truly never worked with a baby that was this easy with each new thing. Even Butch doesn't like having his face sprayed off for the hundredth time as much as Baker did this first time!
Once we were done bathing, I crosstied him again under a fan to dry off. He was much calmer and less fidgety this time. I left him alone a few times while I worked on some minor barn chores where I could keep an eye on him, but not babysit him. Horses need to get comfortable with being alone (or maybe it's the owners that need to get comfortable with that ...) I also picked out his feet and flysprayed him. Both of those things are such non-issues now that I really don't think I even need to mention them anymore. I also decided to revisit clipping him. It had been so long since the last time he heard the clippers, so I wasn't sure how he would react. He didn't even care. I turned them on, and he just stood there, watching and waiting. I only clipped his muzzle, since that had been easy for him before. He was a little fidgety, but not because he was scared, I think he was just trying to play.
Finally, I decided the top off our spa day by starting to shorten his mane. It's not really necessary at this time, but really, neither is clipping. I'm doing it more to get him used to all the various things he will have to endure when he becomes a top show horse. Typically, for my sport, we do what is called "pulling" the mane. Small sections of the mane, where it's long, are teased up, and then the long hairs are pulled out by the roots. Horses do not have nerve endings in the base of their mane like we do in our scalp, so this is not a painful process to them. However, the sensation of someone pulling on the mane, does seem to bother most young horses. So, I usually won't actually "pull" a young horse's mane, I will wait until they are a little older to start pulling it. Rather, I will tease up the short hairs, and then snip the longer hairs at an angle. The hair is pulled or cut in this way so that it lays flat, is thinned out a bit, and looks more "natural" than if it were just cut bluntly. You can also use a razor blade to trim the hair shorter in a way that doesn't make it look like it was cut. Sometimes I will do this for Butch's mane because his mane is so thin already. If I were to pull his mane every time, it would eventually get too thin. What you absolutely DON'T want to do is just take scissors to your horse's mane and cut it off straight across. It looks atrocious that way! To me, pulling a mane is a little like an art form, so it does take practice to get your technique down. Just remember, hair does grow back :) Anyway, back to Baker. All I really expected at this point was to get him used to having to stand patiently while I worked on his "do". Pulling a mane typically takes 30-45 minutes, depending on how thick the mane is. Eventually, most horses will learn to fall asleep while their mane is being worked on. I ended up doing about one quarter of Baker's mane before he started to get restless. As soon as I noticed him fidgeting, I kept going, but watched for him to relax. I didn't want to stop when he fidgeted, because that would send him the wrong message, but I didn't want to keep going all the way and drive him crazy either. As soon as I got a little relaxation from him, I stopped and put him back in the round pen. When I'm getting a horse used to mane pulling, it might take several sessions before I actually complete the mane. Remember, the goal here is not to get the mane pulled, but to get him used to standing still for that long - think about how long you can get a toddler to sit in a chair :) Eventually, a horse will learn to stand still and relaxed for the entire time their mane is being pulled, but like anything else, that learning takes time too.
Once we were done bathing, I crosstied him again under a fan to dry off. He was much calmer and less fidgety this time. I left him alone a few times while I worked on some minor barn chores where I could keep an eye on him, but not babysit him. Horses need to get comfortable with being alone (or maybe it's the owners that need to get comfortable with that ...) I also picked out his feet and flysprayed him. Both of those things are such non-issues now that I really don't think I even need to mention them anymore. I also decided to revisit clipping him. It had been so long since the last time he heard the clippers, so I wasn't sure how he would react. He didn't even care. I turned them on, and he just stood there, watching and waiting. I only clipped his muzzle, since that had been easy for him before. He was a little fidgety, but not because he was scared, I think he was just trying to play.
Finally, I decided the top off our spa day by starting to shorten his mane. It's not really necessary at this time, but really, neither is clipping. I'm doing it more to get him used to all the various things he will have to endure when he becomes a top show horse. Typically, for my sport, we do what is called "pulling" the mane. Small sections of the mane, where it's long, are teased up, and then the long hairs are pulled out by the roots. Horses do not have nerve endings in the base of their mane like we do in our scalp, so this is not a painful process to them. However, the sensation of someone pulling on the mane, does seem to bother most young horses. So, I usually won't actually "pull" a young horse's mane, I will wait until they are a little older to start pulling it. Rather, I will tease up the short hairs, and then snip the longer hairs at an angle. The hair is pulled or cut in this way so that it lays flat, is thinned out a bit, and looks more "natural" than if it were just cut bluntly. You can also use a razor blade to trim the hair shorter in a way that doesn't make it look like it was cut. Sometimes I will do this for Butch's mane because his mane is so thin already. If I were to pull his mane every time, it would eventually get too thin. What you absolutely DON'T want to do is just take scissors to your horse's mane and cut it off straight across. It looks atrocious that way! To me, pulling a mane is a little like an art form, so it does take practice to get your technique down. Just remember, hair does grow back :) Anyway, back to Baker. All I really expected at this point was to get him used to having to stand patiently while I worked on his "do". Pulling a mane typically takes 30-45 minutes, depending on how thick the mane is. Eventually, most horses will learn to fall asleep while their mane is being worked on. I ended up doing about one quarter of Baker's mane before he started to get restless. As soon as I noticed him fidgeting, I kept going, but watched for him to relax. I didn't want to stop when he fidgeted, because that would send him the wrong message, but I didn't want to keep going all the way and drive him crazy either. As soon as I got a little relaxation from him, I stopped and put him back in the round pen. When I'm getting a horse used to mane pulling, it might take several sessions before I actually complete the mane. Remember, the goal here is not to get the mane pulled, but to get him used to standing still for that long - think about how long you can get a toddler to sit in a chair :) Eventually, a horse will learn to stand still and relaxed for the entire time their mane is being pulled, but like anything else, that learning takes time too.
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