Interlude: Working With "Rocky"

INTERLUDE: Rocky - Compare & Contrast

Today we helped “evaluate” a horse for a friend and Golden State Horse Club member. In a nutshell the horse, who has been owned by the same family since it was a 6 month old had developed some bad habits because of some – frankly – ineffective and dishonest “trainers” - who either allowed certain behaviors to go unchecked or simply didn’t spend quality time with said horse. Add to this formula the fact that he is about 17hh tall athletic and nine (9) years old. One of the family members was kicked by the horse during trailer loading in a rather less than optimal situation that was not handled well at the time. Things sort of spiraled downward after these events. Some of the bad habits that were related were things like not leading well, head-shy, not taking the halter or bridle, threatening to kick, aggressive postures/mannerisms, racing away when the halter is removed…and so on. The family member kicked now has fear/confidence issues (understandable) and the other family members are in a quandary about what to do. So now the family feels the need to either sell the horse, give the horse away or put it down.

Enter Laurie and I.

We got called in to evaluate the horse’s ability to be worked with on the ground and trained back up to a point where it can be marketed. Hopefully it can be sold to a more experienced horse-person who can take on a project like this. In dialogues with the family it seems that certain “foundation building” activities were not done, done properly or simply glossed over. We see this –sadly- more often than not. Folks get in over their heads and then get taken advantage of by “trainers” with their own agendas. It sounds like this horse is in a bad way.

STATS:

• ·         Age: 9 (born in 2007)
• ·         Breed: Grade Paint/ QH mix (no papers)
• ·         Height: Between 16.0-16.3 hh
• ·         Color: Paint with one partial blue eye.
• ·         Location: El Dorado, CA.

Our plan today is to get working with this big boy in the Round Pen and make the hard assessments of his attitude, aptitudes and his ability to give up the “People Trainer Union Card” when presents with effective leadership.

This should be a learning experience for everyone…

We arrive at the facility to find that the Round Pen is under repair and not available for use. Okay, The lack of a Round Pen presents certain “issues” that “inspire creativity” in our horsemanship approach. The horse…all 17 hh of him…is in the covered arena, racing about and spun up. Eyes big, tail swishing and obviously looking for a way out.

Sigh. Most folks may have walked away or said “he is too much” at that point. That was not us today.

Instead, armed with just my gloves I entered the area. No stick-n-string, no halter/lead rope. Just me. The horse ignores me for a few moments until I caught his eye. Once that happened I got behind the girth line and asked him to move out. He did. REALLY fast. Now I was a good 15 feet away at the time so I was not in danger. The racing about, farting, kicking up, rapid direction changes that were expected happened. No big deal. He wasn’t being aggressive and neither was I. I simple kept my body placed in a manner that inspired forward motion and allowed me to “ask quietly”. After a few minutes of the horses acting silly and thinking HE was showing ME who is boss, he realized that I was still there and I was actually making HIM move his feet with very little pressure or effort, just like the alpha horse in the herd does. THAT was Moment #1. 

When he started to run out of gas a little bit he stopped on the rail, with his butt toward me, looking out over the rail at the other horses. Well that is not how we roll! So I caught his eye (I swear he looks at me like “you are still here?” My answer was yes sir I am.) and moved his feet! When he trotted first I got him to lope. When he sped up I got direction changes. When he failed to look at me, he got pressure. When he looks at me he got to rest. THAT was Moment #2.

Then I walked up to him and we did the “Horseman’s Handshake.” That went well because I took my time and we did it at his pace. He would sniff, I would step away, breath and then walk back to let him sniff me again. Once he got curious about me I rubbed him on the shoulder. It went so well in fact that he began to follow me around. Hmmn. Not the aggressive horse we were told about. So then I got the stick-n-string. We moved feet, changed gaits, got “two eyes” and even got the horse to lock on and follow me about. Yes, we had some “posturing” which was corrected and then I went back to quietly asking him to move his feet. Calmness began to creep into the horse’s mind and body. After getting “two eyes” a few times and some nice calm departures and transitions (like simply walking off when I asked for it and then transitioning into a trot or lope and then back down) we took a break and he got loved on. THAT was Moment #3.

Then I went and got the rope halter and lead. He was watching what I was doing and even followed me towards the rail to get the halter! I did some advance and retreat with the halter. I rubbed on him with the halter. I asked him to move his feet and give me direction changed with the halter in my hand. I asked for “two eyes” and did the Horseman’s Handshake with the halter in hand. When I walked away, he followed calmly and with a relaxed posture. Hmmn. That seems like a WIN to me and when he followed me almost the full length of the arena I had an “emotional moment” and my eyeballs leaked a little. Don’t judge me. The halter went on without any fuss at all. THAT was Moment #4. 

We then played with hindquarter yields, backing up to steady and rhythmic pressure and lateral flexion. Some resistance happened but is was very low on the spectrum of resistance. We did some lead line work and found some foundation skill holes but encountered no “aggression” even when the pressure was applied to “go faster” or “change directions.” We ended on some wins and he got some love.

This horse is NOT in a “bad way.” This horse needs leadership, training and a Human who is willing to take the time to establish good communication and respect while developing a partnership. This horse needs a job, wet saddle pad, concentrated training. For the right person, this horse could be pretty darn cool.

In short, “people” did this horse a disservice and failed to give him the leadership and the confidence he needs to be happy. Our recommendation, after a fairly lengthy conversation about what we felt the horse needs to be a happy and productive equine citizen and what the “life situation” is like for our friends currently, was to prepare to sell the horse. Getting his ground manners and ground skills really sharp and getting him rising out smoothly and calmly will allow him to obtain his full potential. 

Having shown a proclivity for jumping (he seems to enjoy it) and hearing about the successes in playing with “Hunter-Jumper” skills it seems this big fellow is a solid Hunter Jumper/ Eventing prospect. With a horse-person who can give this horse the time, training and consistent leadership we think he will be a really nice partner for someone! The CONTRAST was that COMPARED to what we heard about this big boy differed a bit from what we saw. Here is a horse that needs his human to be a leader and do right by him. In return he will be a good horse with lots of potential!

Here are some pictures of "Rocky"...please ignore the dirt. He just arrived in El Dorado, CA. from Clovis, CA. yesterday. We will be posting a link to a video shot today as soon as we get it downloaded.