A Lovely Conversation

Between hunting season, weather, work and other such interferences, it's been at least eight weeks, maybe ten, since I rode my horse.  Saturday afternoon, we had an all too brief reprieve on all fronts and I decided to take Tessa out for a much needed ride.

This is where Tessa really proves her worth.  She is only 5 years old, her training has been haphazard at best and includes an 18 month layoff after she got kicked.  She hasn't been out of the pasture in at least two months, but I threw my ill-fitting saddle (I still have not managed to resolve that little problem) on her, told the donkeys to be good, climbed aboard and headed off, just her and I, without so much a twitched ear.

 
There may be some gaps in Tessa's training, some of the finer points are still lacking and she would be clueless in an arena, but that is my fault not hers.  I hate arena work anyways.  There may be some aspects of her conformation I am not thrilled with, but she moves easy over any terrain I point her at.  She may be out of shape and overweight, which is also my fault, but you can't ask for much more out of any horse, especially a young one, than to be able to hop on at a moments notice and have a nice ride. 

Tessa is light and responsive, she may not always understand what I am asking yet, but she always tries her heart out.  In those rare, precious moments when we both get it just right, we flow through the woods without thought or hesitation. 

Riding Tessa is always a constant conversation, me asking, showing; her listening, questioning, questing, trying.  Always trying.  We had a lovely, if fairly short, ride in the woods.  We were only out for about 45 minutes as the light was failing and she is not in shape for it, but it was good while it lasted.  Tessa was certainly "up", but never out of control or unwilling to listen.  I just love the way this horse is always ready to head off down the trail, ears up, moving out, willing and eager to see what's round the next bend.  We need to find a way to do this more often.

 

Back in the saddle

I had a great ride with Gabe this afternoon.  We went out on the trails for about two hours and Gabe did fantastic.  He's even starting to pick up a nice neck rein.  We rode through an area with a couple of really spectacular old hemlocks.  One of the trees had a hollow trunk and had an active honeybee hive in it.  The trainer knew I would be interested in seeing it since I keep bees.  He said that there have been bees in that tree for the last twenty years.  Honeybees are in such terrible trouble, it was an unexpected gift to find an active bee tree. We marveled that those couple of trees had never been logged and neither of us could figure out why they had been left.  It's a miracle that they are still standing.  Maybe those bees have managed to protect their home all these years, it's a very old hive.

The weather has suddenly remembered that it is March and it was horribly cold yesterday and last night. Today though, was in the 30's and sunny and ended up being a great day for riding in the woods. The trainer told me that if I ever want to part with Gabe, I should call him first. It's a good sign when the horse trainer wants to keep your horse:)

Hi-Ho Hi-Ho, It's Off to Work He Goes

I mentioned a while ago that I was planning on sending Gabe off for training on April 1. Well, I got a call this morning from a friend who also has a horse going to the same trainer. She wanted to know if I would trade training slots with her.  She was supposed to take her horse over today, but she had a crises to deal with.  She could still truck Gabe over for me though if I would swap with her. I didn't have to think about it too much....put Gabe to work two weeks ahead of schedule? Sounds like a good idea to me. That boy needs a job. Good thing he had a nice, long nap in the sun this morning, he is going to need it.

The girls weren't too upset to see him off, but were a little bewildered.... 

"Geeze Em, we were just finally getting him properly trained and housebroken.  Where do you think he disappeared to?"

"I don't know Tess, you did say something about bootcamp a while back.  I didn't know he'd get sucked up and disappered by a big, blue alien though.  How do these things happen?"

Gabe

We had a little break in the weather this afternoon, it made it into the upper 20's, the wind stopped blowing and the sun actually came out (sort of).  That's about as good as it gets in NY in January, so I took Gabe out to the round-pen for a little work.  You have probably been thinking that I haven't been paying much attention to him since he got here, but that isn't entirely true.  It is true that I haven't been able to put the time into him that he needs, but I do have a plan and we are working toward it.   I knew form the start that I don't have the time or the desire to really work a green horse.  Luckily, there is a wonderful trainer less than 10 miles from my house who is going to take Gabe for a month starting April 1st.  Anything I can manage before then will be icing on the cake. 

Since I know Gabe is going to be getting the training he needs, I have had the luxury of taking my time getting to know him and watching my little herd adjust to his addition.  It has also left me able to focus on Emma, as I think she needs me more right now then Gabe does.  Since he got here, Tessa is spending more and more of her time with him rather than with Emma and I think Emma is feeling somewhat lonely.  I had been thinking that I would find another donkey to be with Emma because I think it is important for donkeys to have other donkeys around, but then I found out she is pregnant.  I still think Emma would be happier if she had a donkey friend, but I am not so sure now is the right time for that (even if I could find one).  There are also limits to what I can manage, both emotionally and financially, my resources only stretch so far.  
   
Fortunately, Gabe is actually very solid under saddle already, in a pack-horse sort of way.  He has a lot of miles on him, but he always just followed his herd-mates.  The teenage boys who rode him all over were inexperienced themselves so they didn't know how to teach him the finer points of riding.  Still, they did a good job of getting him started.  What this means is that Gabe will go anywhere and through anything as long as there is someone in front to direct him.  He is traffic safe, crosses bridges, water, trailers, etc.  He just doesn't know that his rider is actually supposed to be calling the shots. 

This is a picture of him in the local Halloween parade last October...

The trainer I am sending him to does an incredible job with young horses.  He worked with Tessa last year and I was thrilled with the results.  He only takes a couple of horses at a time and he rides them.  He takes them out six days a week for 2-3 hours a day and rides through the woods, into town, down the road and anywhere else he can think of.  The horse comes home fit, tired and very well trained.  And, he does all of this at a very reasonable price,  what more could I ask for.  A horse like Gabe, who already has a good foundation, along with a good brain and sweet disposition, will come home a wonderful trail horse.  Exactly what I want. 

A response to a question

I got this question after my post about herd dynamics the other day...

"Gosh, what a great blog and especially this post; I'm a new horse owner and I think I've experienced my horse do this to me at various points in the last few months. Any suggestions on how to re-balance the hierarchy after mistakes have been made & the dynamic has been improperly set?"

My best answer to this question is, do groundwork.  If you have a round-pen, start there. Get the horse moving and learn how to move the horse using your body.  For example, if you move toward the horse's hip, he will move forward, away from you.  If you move toward his shoulder, he will stop and/or turn.  If your horse comes straight at you in an aggressive manner, he is totally not respecting you.  You need to get him moving away from you then turning on your signal.  If you have control over where his feet are going than you have the leadership role.  Don't spend too long in the round-pen, two or three sessions are usually enough for most horses.  After that, they start getting bored and frustrated.  Once they are moving well off of your commands, put on a halter and lead and work on leading.

If you don't have a round-pen, work with a halter and lead rope.  Practice leading.  Even if you think your horse leads fairly well, they can usually do better.  Expect your horse to follow at your shoulder and keep pace with you no matter how fast or slow you are moving.  He ha to always respect your space.  If he is crowding you, he is dominating you.  In other words, the horse should always be aware of you and looking to you for guidance, for leadership.

Be especially careful at feeding times.  If your horse is pawing at the gate, banging on the wall, pinning his ears, he is not respecting you.  Never feed him when he is doing any of these things, wait until he is quiet, with ears up then give him his food.  This doesn't take as long as you may think but, you have to be very consistent, especially with a new horse. 

If any of this sounds like gibberish or seems overwhelming, you probably need some help.  Find an instructor who is willing to teach you how to do groundwork not just riding.  There are all sorts of good videos that cover this subject as well although nothin compares to working with the real thing.  People like Buck Brannaman, Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance, John Lyons, etc. all have training videos.  If you choose to go this route, I would suggest that you pick just one for now.  They all have similar methods but do vary some.  If you try to cram all of them into your head at once, you are likely to get frozen by indecision when you most need to act.  You can come back to the rest later, you will learn more from all of them that way.

The other suggestion I can offer is, watch horses.  Watch what they do, how they move, how they interact.  It is best if you can watch them while remaining unobserved yourself.  Try to see them without any preconceptions or expectations.  Watch them while they are being boring...sleeping, grazing, standing around with their lip hanging low.  Watch them while they are playing and especially when they are arguing. Watch the interactions between the alpha horse and the subordinates.  Ultimately, the horse is the best teacher you will find but, you have to accept what the horse is before you can teach him something new.

I don't know anything about you, your situation or your horse so it is impossible for me to offer much beyond this.  You are welcome to contact me, if you have specific questions and you think I can help.  Just send me an email.   I hope this helps.