The Third Date

The Third Date (Lesson #3)

On an on-line forum I actually read something to the effect of  “ I have to ride two broncky horses and it is hard to video when you are holding on so tight” in relation to training the horse to be a productive equine citizen. My first thoughts were ‘Why would you ride the buck out in the first place?” and “you can fix the problem before it happens on the ground with some forethought and preparation.” Guess some people have to have their ego involved in the process.

So glad we are not those people. It is all about helping the horse, not “breaking the horse,”

Today is actually going to be a two part adventure. The goal for this morning is to review the skill sets from yesterday, get some improvements/refinements and see about playing outside the round pen a little bit. This evening we are loading everyone up and heading over to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Arena for a little Spur of the Moment Ride with the Golden State Horsemanship Club. Herself will get to do some groundwork but for the most part she’ll get to hang out and soak it all in.

The Morning Session: Cali was focused challenged for the first part of the session. She was having issues just giving “two eyes” and relaxing. So we have to move her feet and sweat a little bit to reach her brain. It always seems to happen this way. Around day 3-5 of the process the horse just wants to fire the human because said human has shifted the horse’s reality a bit. The expectation to behave and perform have changed. Push back is expected. She was more energetic than yesterday. She was cutting the circle a bit so her shoulder and ribs had to flex a bit. We finally got some nice work done and reached the brain. She is beginning to figure out that not everything is about “go” but there is an equal measure of “whoa” in this new reality too. We left the round pen with a stronger connection and understanding.

Then we took all that she has learned in the last sessions and played outside on our mini trail/obstacle course. We did some work over some of the terrain, up and down hills and around some of the rock outcroppings. We passed through the pool noodle “tunnel” and over the deadwood box. We played over the low jumps and worked on some backing exercises. All in all it was pretty good with no real drama other than her sometimes forgetting “personal space” boundaries which had to be adjusted.

We wrapped up with a long drink of water and a nice rinse off. She seems to like the process. She got to marinate on the lesson standing tied on the Tree of Knowledge for an hour. Good session. Tonight we “travel” 15 minutes away to a new location (for Cali).

The Evening Session: We loaded up with very little fuss. Cali does need to work on her patience in the trailer but she loaded up just fine and once we got moving she didn’t fidget much. She has had VERY LITTLE trailering and traveling experience. New places are NEW to her. We thought about this as we headed to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Arena. She has been with us for three (3) days and has been to three (3) different places! Reality has shifted!

Since the evening session was her second training activity of the day we just wanted to review the lead line work that has been done while exposing her to a new place. Some members of the Golden State Horsemanship Club were in attendance as well. This location will be used quite a bit over the next several months because it is covered, has great footing (the staff did over water it the arena in some places last night) has is lit up until 9:00pm three days a week. We worked on Ground School Circles, backing, Yields of the Hindquarters and a few other exercises. She was a bit focus challenged at first but figured out that if her humans were there then everything is going to be okay. Once we got some wins we headed to the pens attached to the arena and she got to hang out while we worked our other horses. Took her a bit to relax in the pens (again, new place) which we expected. When she finally stopped being worried that we were going to leave her even though she could see us and her pasture buddies we got ready to leave. A little work on manners and we called it a night. She loaded up well and we headed home. It has been a BUSY three days for this mare. Reality has shifted. Standards and expectations of behavior have been set and the foundation of a good future is being built.