It Is A Brand New Day!

IT IS A NEW DAY!

Anyone who takes on a “project horse” is a HERO in our book! Oftentimes these horses come with baggage, have been handled poorly/roughly, are not in the greatest physical condition and need LOTS of love, consistency and leadership to find their “best selves” in the new and improved partnership with a new human. In short it is not easy. Worth it? Oh VERY MUCH so…but not easy.

We were contacted by one of these HEROES who took on a project horse and was having some challenges. The horse is a ten year old Arab cross (we thing with Morgan but the previous owner was “unclear” about this.) gelding. His “history” was also unclear (supposedly broke to saddle but has had some bucking issues). Still our HERO purchased this fellow from someone known for being a bit of a “horse-flipper” and not the most reputable. It happens. We all have done it, when we see a horse in need. The new owner/ HERO, has been working with horse less than a month and trying to get its weight and body condition back up. We were told that in a recent session the horse, while saddled, spooked, bolted and almost jumped out of the new human’s round pen. The new human as done some groundwork and some desensitizing (even used saddle bags on the saddle so the horse could see something out of both eyes). In short lots of over-reaction/spookiness on the horse’s part. Our HERO felt they were not progressing and actually moving backwards.

We met up at a local public horse arena with a wonder 60-70’ round-pen with good footing and good railing. Since we had so little information on this gelding to build up a plan of action we figured it would be best to evaluate and work with him someplace away from “home” in a controlled environment. We wanted to check out curious and reactive he was and how “trainable” he would allow himself to be. This is REALLY important when one considers a project horse candidate. If they are damaged (mentally, emotionally or physically) enough it is often very difficult to reach their minds and is usually “more work” than most people are willing to commit to. After letting the horse get familiar with the new place on this new day we began to work on establishing a connection. After a few “almost starts” we were able to love on the horse a bit and he began to “lock on” and follow us around a bit. We then began to establish some control parameters by getting consistency in gait and direction at liberty. He was a but confused and reactive at first but soon calmed down and understood that we we simply “asking” quietly and did not “yell” without cues and body language at all. Being told a horse is reactive we made the decision that pressure/volume would only be increased in minor stages at first. This paid off well because soon the horse was looking for that leadership and wanted to be “right” in its actions. When things went a tiny bit sideways we simple stopped, rubbed/loved on him and tried again. We then moved to getting some consistent (and calm) changes of direction and gait. This went well considering some of the initial reactions and we could see that the “trainable mind” was in there. We just had to start chipping away at 10 years of “not so good” experiences and begin to replace them with calm, confident and fun ones. Once we were able to “get two eyes” and some good, consistent actions based on our “asking” for them we moved on to working on the lead line.

Because of the initial reactive responses we took our time introducing the rope halter and lead rope. The horse shied away at first but with the consistent “advance and retreat” approach he was able to feel more confident about the process and took the halter like a gentleman. We then draped the rope over the arm and walked away with the expectation of the horse following. No “pulling” or over signals, just strolled away. He followed like he was doing this all his life. It was a good sign that trust was beginning to happen. We move to asking him to follow but stay to one side of the human. This was a new concept to him and he was unsure he was supposed to be there and defaulted back to simply following behind. Once this felt “good” we really got down to business! Some of the same concepts like moving in a circle at the speed we requested and changing directions consistently and calmly were worked on via the lead line. Then we introduced some desensitizing exercises with the lead rope. We worked on some lateral softness (flexion), bending through the body and vertical flexion. We then did some more desensitizing with the stick-n-string before moving into Backing from both rhythmic and steady pressure. These “felt” like new concepts in the way they were presented. It took several tries with systematic increases in pressure to relate the concept of rhythmic pressure back to the horse but once he got it he gave honest tries. Steady pressure backing was much the same way. We introduced a new concept of the hindquarter yield. At first the actions were reactive but soon settled into calm actions based on cues. We introduced “follow the nose” which incorporated a desensitizing exercise to the rope and then by following the feel of pressure on the nose from the halter make a 180 degree turn on the hind end then the forehand followed by forward impulsion. This went very well and he surprised us with his calm and willing attitude towards it. We attempted to introduce the forequarter yield on command. This was new to him and even though he tried he struggled a bit. This is good as it provides a solid starting point for his new human to work from. We rolled into our 5 in 1 exercise which strings five distinct exercises into one sentence. This really tests the trainable mind and willing attitude. Overall the horse did well and once again established a good starting point. We wrapped up the session with a lateral flexion review and working on lateral leads by the foot ending with a desensitizing session with the plastic bag on the stick. This we knew would create the most drama in the horse’s mind but since we did it at the end of the session after building the trust/confidence level in the horse the level of “drama” while there, was manageable and encouraging.

The journey these to personalities – the horse and the human – will need to be a slow one at first. Trust, timing, feel, communication and respect has to really be developed. With a good (ie: effective) program of groundwork, desensitizing reintroduction of the saddle, the horse and the human should be able to build a strong foundation that can be built upon for years to come.

We were blessed to be a small part of this new journey.