All The Kings' Horses

Gia did fairly well with most stuff today.  She did not hesitate walking into the barn at all.  She stood very well for her grooming, saddling and girthing.  She resisted a bit when I brushed her forelock, but only once or twice.  While she was in the barn, I had to pause a minute to clip another horse.  Just hearing the sound of the clippers really bothered Gia, so I plan on leaving them running each time she comes in to be groomed for a while to see if that helps her get more comfortable with them.  In the round pen, she went right to work, and relaxed quickly with the bumpers near the girth area.  Once again, however, when I moved the bumpers back to her flank area, she overreacted with several good bucks.  Once she settled down and worked quietly several times in each direction, I let her end the session.  So, nothing really new this time, just more repetition until Gia decides that it's no big deal.  There isn't anything I can do to rush this process, it's now up to he

So, my main goal when I started this blog was to help folks understand what all really goes into training a horse.  And one of the biggest things I want people to understand is all the time, and most importantly, all the REPETITION that has to be done when training a horse.  Horses are no different than any other creature or human, and they require a lot of repetition to figure something out.  Some things that we ask the horse to do require more repetition than others.  Some horses, and humans, require more repetition than others.  Unfortunately, there are no short cuts.  One thing that one of my trainers used to say a lot is that we need to "go slow in order to go fast".  Meaning, if you take the appropriate amount of time to do something correctly, then you will actually get to your goal quicker in the long run.  If you try to hurry and rush things with a horse, or yourself, you will inevitably have to take a step or two backwards at some point to be able to go forwards aga

I brought Gia in today, groomed and saddled her.  I spent some time working with her on brushing her forelock.  It seems like such a silly thing for her to be afraid of, but it is what it is.  I unhooked her from the crossties and just held her leadline while I brushed her forelock until she relaxed.  She backed up quickly a few times.  Each time, I brought her back in the crossties and tried again.  It took a little while, but she finally relaxed.  I reminded myself that this is the same horse that threw a huge tantrum, as a yearling, over velcro.  I would sit in the round pen opening and closing velcro fasteners while she ran around me like crazy.  It took her forever to get over that one!  Anyway, she was almost perfect for the saddle.  She did not move a muscle until I tightened the girth, and then she just barely picked up her foot.  Up in the round pen, I went through the same motions as yesterday.  Today was better, but she still chose to offer a few tiny bucks when I first se

I worked with Gia yesterday, but didn't have a chance to write.  She came into the barn pretty quietly, like usual.  I put her in her "regular" spot for grooming and tacking.  She was pretty good for grooming.  One thing she's a little weird about - brushing her forelock.  Whenever I brush her forelock, she raises her head up high and twists it to the side.  I'm not exactly sure why.  Today, I had an assistant hold her lead line while I brushed it.  And then I held the line while she brushed it.  Oddly, Gia didn't seem bothered when the other person brushed her forelock, just me.  We traded off a few times, partly because I was trying to figure out what the difference was.  I still am not quite sure, but she was more relaxed about it the last time I did it.  She was very quiet for the saddle pad and the saddle.  Still just a smidge fidgety for the girth, but better than last time.  I did finish tightening it in the grass again.  In the round pen, I attached

So, I brought Gia in to work with today.  For those of you reading this blog that are not familiar with my barn - it has a shed row type area where we cross tie the horses.  There are two places to cross tie.  There is one wall that runs the length of both cross tie areas.  Then there is a shorter wall that runs the width of one cross tie area.  The other long side and the other short side are both open.  I typically put younger, greener and spookier horses on the side with more walls, so that they are less likely to break the cross ties, and if they do, they can't really go anywhere.  It's usually a good deterrent.  I typically put Gia on this side, but the person feeding this morning was still working on the hay in that area, and Gia has been really good, so I put her on the more open side.  Changing up her spot could be one reason for today's problem .... Anyway, she stood quite well for her grooming.  However, at the same time that I started to bring out the saddle an

I worked with Gia today on all the same things as last time.  I did reintroduce flyspray today.  She was slightly fidgety at first, but quickly remembered that it was no big deal.  Getting flyspray on her used to be a big deal though!  She used to be very anxious whenever she was sprayed.  For most horses, it's the combination of the sound the sprayer makes, as well as the feel of the spray when it touches them.  It just requires a lot of desensitization, and I typically use a spray bottle full of water so that I don't waste all my flyspray.  She went through all that last year, and luckily, it stuck with her for this year!  Gia and the boat bumpers. She was perfectly still for the saddle pad and the saddle today.  She was slightly fidgety for girthing, but not as bad as last time.  I did do the final tightening in the grass again, and she could have cared less.  Once in the round pen, I attached the boat bumpers to the front, middle and back of the saddle, and sent her t

I worked with Gia today on all the same things we have been doing lately.  She was pretty quiet in the crossties and very quiet when I put the saddle pad on her.  She only fussed once when I was girthing her, but I still tightened it all the way while I let her eat grass.  Once in the round pen, I attached the boat bumpers to the saddle, up in front of the girth.  She was perfectly fine working around the circle with the bumpers there.  After she showed her first signs of submission, I moved the bumpers back a little, to right on top of the stirrups.  She was also fine working with them in that position.  Once again, I moved the bumpers back a little further, so that they were more in her flank area.  She definitely had something to say about that!  She threw in a few good bucks, several times, as I asked her to work around the circle.  Each time she threw a fit, I moved towards her head to get her to turn around and work the other way.  This action mostly shuts down the bucking, but i

I brought Gia into the barn yesterday to work with her.  I allowed her to sniff around the crosstie area again, but she did not take as long to relax and feel comfortable.  Once she was tied, I groomed her, and she stood fairly quietly while I walked back and forth into the tack room to bring out her stuff.  A lot of young and green horses will get nervous when they are left alone.  For a horse in the wild, being alone is dangerous, so it's something they have to learn to get comfortable with.  I don't like to soothe the horse when it gets anxious, but rather reward her when she finally relaxes.  In this case, the reward could be as simple as coming back to the horse and finishing the grooming process.  Gia really enjoys being around people, as do most horses, so that is definitely a reward she enjoys.  Gia had been through this process in the past, but still needs gentle reminders now and then.   Once she was groomed, I started to put the saddle pad on her.  She was a littl

I was a little too busy yesterday to write about Gia's adventures.  She did a bit more of the same at the farm.  I brought her into the cross ties to get more reacquainted with them and work on relaxing.  I allowed her to touch anything she wanted to, and check out anything that she was concerned about.  Once she had sniffed everything of interest, I cross tied her and groomed her.  She was a little worried when I went to put the saddle pad on, so I worked on desensitizing her to it by rubbing it all over her body until she took a deep sigh or "licked and chewed".  I did that with her several times on both sides of her body.  Once she was fine with the saddle pad, I added the saddle.  She was a bit fidgety when I tightened the girth, so I only tightened it a little ways, and then, as I walked her up to the round pen, I allowed her to stop and eat some grass while I finished tightening the girth.  She didn't even notice ☺.  Once in the round pen, I sent her arou

Yesterday was quite busy, so I'm a little behind in my blogging about Gia's adventures.  Due to some scheduling changes, I started with her first thing in the morning.  I typically work with her as my last horse before lunch.  I also started by bringing her into the barn, rather than in the round pen.  I also changed her saddle to a western saddle rather than English, and, after grooming her, I started by clipping her.  Those might all seem like small changes to you, but even just one of those is a HUGE change to a horse.  She managed to hold it fairly well together for the most part though.  She was a bit nervous being back in the barn.  I allowed her to sniff everything (she tried drinking out of the tack cleaning bucket once ☺).  Once she relaxed, I snapped the crossties on and went about grooming her.  She was pretty quiet for that.  The next item on our agenda was clipping.  In the past, she has not been very good for this.  I typically use my cordless clippers when dese