Two Youngsters on a Trail Ride

Cindy on Boon

 

Lovely little trail ride with Monica and her 2 year old tonight in Dimple Dell.  Her horse has had 60 days professional training, several rides, and it shows.  Mine is a juvenile by comparison!  Both horses walked out really nicely trotted some, and went up and down hills, over  a bridge (Boon would follow but was not about to lead), and through the tunnel.

Monica on ‘yet to be named’

 

Ok, so can you tell we need to work on holding still =  )  Thank you, Monica for a fun ride!  Monica’s little horse is darling, and did awesome.  The ONLY bucks we saw had antlers!  We were totally happy NOT to see horse bucks!  hmmm … the only thing was it took 45 minutes to get him settled down and into the trailer.  He hollared and cried when Monica’s horse drove away, and then when I almost had him settled down again, someone else came with two horses and was running them around the parking lot.  That did NOT settle him down, wow, he was hyped about that.  I was thinking … well, I could always leave him here, walk over to Smith’s and get some vittles, and sleep in the back of my car …. but then the moon came up, the night got peaceful, and the shadow of my running horse was stunning … I was almost sad when he did finally give it up and leapt with relief and a huge horse sigh into the trailer.  Why he didn’t do that 45 minutes earlier, well he didn’t.

Fred Leslie mentioned something a couple weeks back… break the loading into little pieces.  Step 0 is to get settled enough to pay attention … THAT is harder than one would think, it seems.  Still working on that ‘away’ and ‘with horses’.

Now supposing that eventually after enough ground working, Boon settles down enough to concentrate on the job at hand …

Getting in the trailer… Step 1, as I figure, is to approach the trailer.  Boon does respond pretty well to ‘step’ with a tap on his hip.  At home he will get right in.  But not ‘away’.  He gets stuck at the trailer edge with his pasterns up against the edge.  If he picks up his feet, he touches his pasterns or even bonks them and won’t get in.  So today, we have been working on the command ‘step up’ and have ‘stepped up’ on everything in my yard that can be stepped up onto … tree stumps, feed buckets (inside and out), rocks banks mounting blocks, and yes THE TRAILER.  Piece by little piece, we will get there.  With the whip, I tap the thing I want him to step onto, make sure he sees and hears it.  Then I tap the back of the leg I want him to step up with (and I am being specific at this point… left or right … my choice, not his) and tell him ‘step up’.  At first, I gave him a treat (a little tiny bit of grain) for just picking up that foot.  Then, for touching the thing I wanted.  Now for putting his foot flat on that thing.  I also tried picking the foot up with a soft rope, to place it where I wanted it and that also helped at first.  Plus, it made him give to rope pressure on his feet which may eventually save him from rope or wire cuts if he becomes tangled.  And it helps towards hobbling too.  But it wasn’t long and I didn’t need the rope, only the tap.  I can also bring him into the trailer by touching the second foot and bringing it up too.  Then the rest of the horse follows along.  He clearly likes this game, as it involves food treats.  I will work on this some more this week, and hopefully have yet another tool to help get him in the trailer the next time we go ‘away’.

Watching Boon Learn

Had a breakthrough tonight, two in fact.

Legs:

I’ve been working on helping Boon learn to work off my legs, so I don’t have to use much if any bit.  Sue showed me / reminded me to work on the turn on the haunches/turn on the forehand exercise.  And also turning into the fence, starting it with the bridle but finishing it with the legs.  Also, riding on the trail, been working on (my) leg pressure to move Boon’s hips.  This is important, because in places our trail is narrow enough to fall off of if you aren’t keeping your feet on the trail.  This is NOT the best place to practice, because at first, Boon was moving TOWARD the pressure, which would mean off the trail.  Um, no.  So, using the sage brush as my obstacles to turn all around, I’ve been trying to move him around them in long lines, weaving, tight circles, whatever.  He has to pay attention around them, as they footing is all over the place, and he does of course.  He’s been doing better on the left than the right. But, all of a sudden, he got it.  Then he lost it, then got it again.  Amazing to see him learn, you can just see the ‘ah ha’. I have to remember to ‘open the gate’ with my turn-in hand, plus leg, but mostly, it just feels like ‘picking him up’ with my hips and legs, and moving him wherever I want to go.  Yay!  So … we are getting THERE. And then going down the narrow trail going home … he HAD it, moved right over where I wanted him, no rein at all.

The Trailer:

Then at home, I put him in the trailer, since it is hooked up to take Friday for a ride tomorrow.  Boon went right in following me for grain.  Ok, so I do believe in bribes =) Totally relaxed in the trailer with the divider closed. Ate his grain. Came out nicely.  Then, instead of rubbing him and thanking him with his butt to the trailer, as I have in the past, I turned him around put his head right back in and rubbed him there.  I didn’t ask him to get in, but I made the trailer place nice and cozy.  He knew I had some treats in my pocket, which he was negotiating to get.  I don’t him be too rude about this, but it is clear he is pointing at them in every way a horse can point … neck, head, ears, body.  Suddenly, and you could see this, it occurred to him … he just stepped into the trailer as neat as you please, all by himself ( I was outside the trailer .. I’ve ‘driven’ him in before, but he has never gotten in totally of his own volition before) and turned around looking at me … treat?  Treat?  I gave him a treat right away, and he was clearly very pleased with himself, or maybe with me … Good girl!  She has finally figured out how to give me a treat!  He stayed in the trailer, negotiating for another treat, for quite a while.  Before he could get frustrated or lose interest, I brought him out, and again turned his head to the trailer, rubbing him, but not giving him the treat he was clearly pointing at with his face and ears.  He wanted a treat, clearly … and was negotiating to get one … basically he was trying to figure out how to make me give him a treat.  He was trying to train me!  When I just glanced into the trailer, he jumped right in, again turned around, and pointed very clearly to the pocket with the treats  … treat?  Treat?  Yep!  There was his treat.  He again stayed in the trailer a good long time, asking for more.  I brought him out, turned him to look at the trailer, and he stepped in without even waiting around outside the trailer, since clearly that girl has not figured out that horses outside of trailers need treats too. Inside the trailer … And another treat!  Amazing how those treats show up inside the trailer.  It was really cool to watch him very obviously figure this out.

Wow!  Way cool!