Baker training session 33.5 - Baker trains the girls training Baker

On Friday, we had quite a rainstorm here at the barn during lesson time, so several of the students

were unable to ride.  However, to make the best of a bad situation, two of the girls asked if they could learn to work with Baker.  Baker has been a good sport in the past when the girls have wanted to help, and it's a great learning opportunity for them to see some of the things that a young horse needs to learn.  Sometimes we take for granted all the things that most adult horses know, but when you see the process it takes to teach those things to a young horse, it can be eye opening.

We started by bringing him in to the cross ties to practice standing.  To sweeten the deal, for all parties involved, the girls got to give Baker a good, solid grooming, including picking his feet.  He stood very quietly for all the

brushing.  He was a little fussy and stubborn about his feet, so they did need some assistance with that, but not much.

Once he was all clean and shiny and happy from the girls scratching all his favorite spots, I taught them how to pull/cut his mane.  If you read the last blog, you will remember that we don't want to pull a young horse's mane, but rather, we cut it (in a very specific way - don't just take scissors to it and hack it all up).  If you didn't read that last blog, go back and do so because I really went into detail on the entire process.  Anyway, they learned to put that process to practice, and Baker learned to stand quietly while they did it.

He was a little annoyed at times, and tried shaking his head to get the girls to let go.  They had to learn to keep a hold of the mane during his little shaking "fits".  When he quit shaking, they could let go, or continue, but they had to hold on during.  He did get better about that towards the end.  On a good note, he didn't seem to mind when one of the girls had to stand on a stool to reach the hair near his poll.  We made sure to end the session when he was relaxed and chewing, so that he kept thinking positive thoughts about having his mane messed with.