THE NEXT JOURNEY: MEET“TOIMPULSIVETONOTICE”
It is Saturday August 13, 2016 and
we are off on another project horse adventure!
We left Placerville pretty early to
get to Stockton by 8:00am. Road conditions were less than ideal so we were few
minutes late in picking up our newest project horse “ AQHA Toimpulsivetonotice”
(barn name to be determined because Cali does not seem to fit her) This horse is a 2011 model with a really unique
coloring –almost silver in her roaning - and nice frame. Nice breeding too. At
just (born in April) 5 years old she has some foundational skills on the ground
and under saddle but they will need quite a bit of work to refine and make
“user friendly” to be sure. It never ceases to amaze us what some people, even
“professional horse people” consider (or make excuses for) acceptable behavior.
Still this charmer has a nice frame, sitting at about 15 hh and ready to embark
on the next chapter in her life. Our mission is to make it positive and
productive so she can find her true calling. According to her registration she
has some solid Western Pleasure and Halter breeding in her lineage.
6:00am: Out the
door. Ronan and Argent were along for the ride. Feed bags for everyone makes
for a happy road trip.
8:00am – Time to Load
Up: We arrived at the property, had to do some creative maneuvering to get
the rig situated. Lots of talking and a little time getting reacquainted in the
round pen. This mare is a bit of a space invader and pushy which can make
working with her a challenge at time. Always a learning process! We had planned
to put her in the last section of the trailer (we have a three horse slant
load). We went back and forth getting the horse in the trailer but she just
didn’t understand the space of it so we pulled Argent out and put the new girl,
after a few back and forth moments, in the middle. Trailer loading is going to
be a BIG part of her life so we are going to be working on this. Loaded up and
off we go!
9:30am – At Practice:
New place (she has not traveled much), new horses, new people. Lots of
distractions. Expectations? Pretty low actually. We figured her brain would pop
and her sassy/pushy attitude would make her a handful. While not the exact
opposite of our expectations, she did pretty well overall. Once we gathered
everyone up for the Round Pen 101 Workshop we introduced “Herself” to the
folks, gave a little back story and got to work teaching her how “we” round pen
and what the expectations are. This was a great learning opportunity for
everyone (horses and humans) because she really did not “know” these skills and
had to learn them in the session. This provided the humans with a great visual
learning opportunity as communication, corrections, body position, focus and
more could be seen. They also got to see the beginning of a new relationship
which is pretty exciting too. We had a minor blow up, moderate levels of sass
and several breakthroughs. Very productive session and a great learning
opportunity. Herself got a long drink of water, a little snack and they hung
out in the shade at the Tree of Knowledge for a time.
The practice/workshops were a success.
First Day Review:
As the practice was winding down we took “Herself “ into the BIG arena at IT
Ranch. Wanted to work on “Backing” and staying out of our space as well as
doing some basic work on the lead line. Her backing up SUCKED but we knew that
going in. Had to work pretty hard to get the concept through to her. Once it
did we made a HUGE deal about how awesome he was (even though we were tired and
a bit sweaty). He lead line work and the effort she put into it was MUCH
improved over our first meeting and the efforts made earlier in the day. The
Tree of Knowledge is a Good Thing and allows then horse to “marinate” in the
lesson.
It was a big day for this young
lady but she did pretty well. Some of the farm equipment and even the puddles
by the wash rack “gave her pause” so we took advantage of these training opportunities.
Loading up was not hard and she
traveled well. At home she gets to share about 2.5 acres of pasture with our
two geldings. Lots of terrain to play on and we even opened up the “trail/obstacle”
area for her to explore on her own.
Dinner for everyone. Lots of love for everyone and we even checked in on
her a few times during the night. She settled in nicely. We like pasture over
stalls as we feel it is more natural for them and puts them in a more receptive
frame of mind. There are shelters and LOTS of trees in our pastures too. Nice
set up for the equines!
Tomorrow we will review the lessons of today and see how it
goes!
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