INTERLUDE - PAYING IT
FORWARD: We have been helping a great lady who is establishing a horse
rescue facility on some recently purchased (and so darn beautiful) property
locally. She adopted six horses from a kill pen in Washington. The ranged in
ages from middle/late teens to a year old. All were very underweight,
fearful/mistrustful of humans and while some had been handled some had not. The
horses stayed with us for about a month while the new facility was being
finished. We got them on the road towards healthy body weight and condition and
have been able to make inroads on the trust issues. Last week we got the two
older geldings, who were ready to trust again (they did this very quickly which
was nice), moved to the new facility. This week we started working with the two
older mares. Neither wanted to be haltered when they first arrived. We took
time each day to sit with them out in their pasture and slowly began to get our
hands on them offering lots of scratches and rub. Yesterday we moved into the
round pen and spent about three hours using “advance and retreat” with the
halter/lead rope and got them to wear the halter without fuss and move with the
feel of the lead rope. We did some basic round pen work to make sure we had
their brains engaged, kept the pressure low and ended with us grooming them.
When it came time to load up and head over to the new place there was little
fuss. It was a really good day for everyone on many levels. This week we start
to work with the untouched three year old mare and one and half year old filly.
Stay tuned!
INTERLUDE - PAYING IT
FORWARD Pt. 2: We started working with Faith (a yearling filly) and Ginger
(a three year old filly) for Horse Tales Equine Rescue. These two were the
youngest of the bunch rescued from Washington. They have some real fear issues.
Faith looks like she may have been haltered once but the experience must have
been very bad because she is really head shy. Since they have been hanging out
at our lace we have become familiar to them so they know we bring food and sit
in the pasture with them. They have become inquisitive and would even take
treats from our hands. Since we now had a deadline to prep these two to be
moved we and to speed up the process a bit. We started with Faith in the round
pen. After some work we were able to get a lead rope on her, rub her all over
(which she liked), get her to move off of pressure, get a consistent direction/
change of direction in the round pen, give us “two eyes” and lock on. We worked
on the head shy issues as well and they too improved. We had to keep the
sessions short because of the rain and muddy footing conditions. Ginger chose
to follow us into the round pen all on her own. Her first session was pretty
good. She gave us “two eyes” and moved off of pressure with some consistent
direction/changes of direction pretty quick! Her reward was some Stable Mix fed
to her by hand and we worked on rubbing her. Human contact still freaks her out
a bit but she is allowing longer periods of touch to happen. The weather
certainly got in the way and with the new deadline it certainly is putting the
pressure on us but we’ll do what we can and then pass them off to the rescue
where they will continue their training. Both of these young ones have grown on
us. It is going to be hard to see them go but we KNOW Horse Tales is a great
place with great folks…and we’ll get to visit and help out. So…WIN!
WEATHER & NIKE:
Well, we have had some seriously wet weather over the last few weeks and had
some “life” as well. In short it has been tough. Between the bouts of rain we
have been playing in the back pasture working on our Fundamentals in “the open”
and Nike has really enjoyed it! We have jumped some tree fall, over our little
seasonal “creek” and played around lots of trees and the terrain. When we have
gotten to the arena we have continues to work on refinement of the focuses and
skills Nike needs to help build her mind, body and confidence. We have been
playing on the long line a bit too. She has been doing Lunge for Respect 1 and
2 on the long line which has focused her mind on her human and really helped to
extend her lope while still feeling “connected” to her person. She looks like
the “mustang logo” on the famous Ford muscle car! She is getting stronger
throughout her body and remaining both soft and light in the bridle. More miles
and consistent training is the key to getting her to the next level. Her
personality is curious and friendly, even with new folks (the public arena is
great for this. All sorts of folks come out to “see the horses” and she wants
to be the center of attention. It is really something to see. Now that we are
getting a break in the weather we can get back to our training schedule!
Mid-Week Session:
Wow! The arena was BUSY! A little sunshine, daylight savings time and the fact
that the arena lights are on until 9:00pm really brought the folks out! We had Ronan, Argent and Nike loaded up and
were hoping for an “easy” sort of session. We have had some really “life”
happen with Michael’s Mom being given two prognosis on her condition –one of
which gave her less than a year to live and then the very sudden passing of
George, the bulldog we adopted from the rescue in July of 2015. We sat with him
as he took his last breath. It has been a tough time and knowing that horses
are sensitive to the emotions of their humans we hoped for a mellow session and well behaved horses.
They were. It was good.
A friend of a friend wanted to come and meet Nike. Call came
out of the blue. When we chatted we let this person know that she has had
almost two weeks off. With horses that can be a long time, especially young
horses. So, we ran Nike through her ground work regiment and she was really
good, a little lazy, but really good. We broke out the long line again and got
her feet moving at the lope. She really stretched out and actually raced around
a couple of circles and then brought her speed down to a nice cadenced lope. We
did some Lunge for Respect 2 on the long line which was fun. Under saddle she
seemed to retain most everything we worked on in the last session which was
nice. Now it is all about improvement and refinement. Picked up some techniques
at the 3 Day Downunder Horsemanship Clinic that should really help Nike to
grasp the harder skills more quickly. All in all it was a good session. Hope to
steal some time Friday morning for another session before the Brumbies Spring
Potluck Picnic and Play Day in Somerset, CA. on Saturday! Oh, and the person
really liked Nike. Who knows they may be a good fit for one another.
Weekend Sessions:
We came, we worked, we groomed and we had a good time! The goals with Nike have
really been focused on her steering, her work ethic/focus and her lope. This
weekend we had lots going at the arena and she was easily distracted. So, lots
of hustling the hooves, changes of direction and remembering that “I” am her
focus point if she does not want to lose weight. She worked well on the long
line and her lope is looking really sweet. Under saddle the “mullet” gait (a
mix of trot and lope which really smacks the man parts around) happened
infrequently and only a couple of strides. We sped her up a bit and she liked
it! We allow worked on her following the feel of the bit better. Cues started
with the seat and leg and then moved into the bit. We were careful not to have
our hands pass the junction of her should at the neck and really “opened the
door” for her. It worked out nicely. She has a habit of dropping her left
shoulder a bit in the circle so we used our leg to round her ribs more as we
lifted up slightly on the inside rein. This helped and she improved as the
session went on.
At this point it is all about repetition and getting those
small improvements while keeping her thinking and focused. We do drill on an
exercise, we mix it up. We would trot a little bit then transition into a lope
and then circle down to a walk. We would rest, flex then yield the hind end or
move the front end. Lather, rinse, repeat. If she got distracted we either
worked or investigated and then worked. Now is the time that everything starts
to really come together and we can build on the foundation that is in place.
The improvements will be steady and gradual even as we move into the
Intermediate level ground work and under saddle work. It really is all about
time and consistency. We are building a house on a good foundation. It takes as
long as it takes.
Nike, watching the squirrels.
L-R: Faith and Ginger
Nike photobombing Ronan