KEEPING A SCHOOL HORSE FRESH

Shag has soured out a bit with the students. This means he doesn’t want to work for them and he is not going to listen. He and the student get into a tug of war resistance and he wins (only a 900# advantage in most cases).

I stopped using him for students a few weeks ago and I rode him. I rode bareback just walking for several rides so he could ‘tell’ me what the problems were.

The biggest was that people were relying on the reins for communication instead of taking their time to ask for what they wanted in the proper sequence. He let me know that if we will use words, sound and body for communication he is not only willing to listen but happy to give us what we ask.

This week I put a student on him for the first time and shared what I found. The last time she rode him it was the tug of war. This time, with the new approach, she was in high spirits. He became a willing partner for her and she learned so much about her responsibilities as a rider. All they did was walk but this a powerful lesson.

The rider enjoyed bareback because she felt she received so much more information from Shag than when she rides with a saddle.

 

NRG - Change of Attitude

REMINDER – A HORSE IS A HORSE

When I brought Lil to the pen gate to go out, her head went up, eyes went wide, body went tense and she produced ‘roller snorts’. When I looked around, the only thing I could see that changed was a puddle in Teefa’s pen and that was definitely what caught her eye.

Of course, to go out the gate meant we had to go closer to it. I made sure I did my job correctly going through the gate so as not to become ‘road kill’ when she spooked at it – and spook she did. We worked about 90 seconds on the scary thing then she decided it wouldn’t bite. She was fine from that point on.

This incident brought back memories of a similar situation in which I didn’t listen to the horse and do what I should have for them (not any I have today). The end result on that was the horse knocked me down and out.

This is just a reminder that all of us dealing with horse need to remember ‘Given the right circumstances, any horse will act like a horse’. We are the ones that have to insure our own safety.

I took the picture just as soon as I tied Lil up so we can ‘see through her eyes’ how it looked. We had lots of shadows (always do this time of day) and reflections from the water (new to this location).  

Bringing Her Back to Work

We have a horse named Goober who is just kind of hanging out. It has been a year since Goober has been out of her pen and asked to do anything. Last year she wasn’t ridden, just worked a little on the ground. I think I rode her some in 2010. Some lessons learned the hard way are that rushing a horse is hazardous to my health. So, in the interest of keeping myself in one, kinda usable, piece, I have hired a young lady to come to my place so we can get Goober back to work.

 Savannah Bonds took lessons from  me at one time when she was Junior High age. Over the years I have kept up with her as she continued her equine journey. She has become a good rider and has retained her deep love of the horses, wanting to learn what she can and become better. We discussed this possibility (riding for me) about a month ago and – she said yes. We began today, March 20, 2012.

MORE ABOUT SADIE March 14, 2012

Going back in our history Sadie came to us with feet issues. We have dealt with lameness off and on since she arrived. The lameness is now on the mend and can be used. One problem resolving.

In 2009, after being with us for about 2 years, I thought there was something not right with her responses to being scratched and groomed. Most horses have one or two what we call ‘sweet spots’. Those spots will elicit a body movement response that indicates pleasure with what is being done to them. In the case of Sadie, her reaction was extreme.

It didn’t matter where on her body you combed or scratched – she would wiggle with the ‘ah, that feels good’ response every time and her entire body would move. The other thing she did was a lot of rubbing herself on the fences and her belly when lying down. It finally soaked in that this was going on to the extreme – not just a little bit more than any other.

In the fall of 2009 I had her allergy tested. We had tried the regular approaches to this, both shots and orally, and nothing was working. The tests identified several things she reacted to. The testing lab prepared a protocol for her and I gave her shots every other day for 3 vials worth – several months. She hated to see me coming. The sad thing was that it didn’t help at all.

By early 2011, she was obviously miserable. I tried the oral antihist again to see if she could come back to a level where she could cope. It seemed to curb a little of the itching but nothing like I hoped.

The past two years, she has not developed a normal summer hair coat. It has felt ‘wooly’. At first I thought Cushings - I have had one horse with Cushings but the situation was not what I knew as a Cushing’s coat.

It was to the point that when I was at the barn for any length of time I was very aware of Sadie itching – she would rub the fence, legs on the water trough, turn and bit her sides or lie down and rub her belly.

She has rubbed both shoulders so the hair is turned backwards and shorter than the rest. This winter she rubbed hard enough and often enough so the shoulders looked black – the under hair showed all the time. She usually has significant rub marks all over the body. You can see a little of what I am describing in the accompanying picture  - look along the neck and shoulder.

At the Ag Expo in February, there was a company selling a product called Equipride. The reps extolled its virtues and it sounded too good to be true. I spent about four hours total talking to them and bought some. I figured it was worth a try for Sadie. With the weather the way it has been I have only had her on it for two weeks. I had some antihist left and finished feeding it out.

Of course the reps said it is no problem to get the horse to eat it. Sadie didn’t like it. I had already been mixing her antihist in with beet pulp and Equine Senior and wetting it a little. I feed in a feed bag so once it is on she has to eat. I added the Equipride and got her started on it that way. Now I am just mixing Equipride and Equine Senior and dampening a little so it is mixed together.

Yesterday I was at the barn most of the day. Late in the day, I realized I had not seen Sadie rub or bite at herself at any time when I was up there. I talked to Dan when he came home and he said that she was better in the mornings when he fed. You don’t suppose ………..?

Today was another day I was at the barn all day and very conscience of Sadie. There was not one time she rubbed or scratched herself. Usually it will happen 2 – 4 times during the space of a lesson. Nothing – zip.

I went in her pen and used my hand to scratch her. The reaction was very low key compared to 10 days ago. Looking at the shoulders, the hair is not as disturbed as it has been. It looks like it is lying in a more normal manner.

I am so glad she is having long periods without itching and scratching. I am interested in seeing what she will grow as far as a summer coat. Stay tuned. Other stories/videos about Sadie's health at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=10151399564915335&id=396146136773#!/note.php?note_id=10151244909770335   and  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&note_id=10151399564915335&id=396146136773#!/photo.php?v=3157956186961&set=vb.396146136773&type=2&theater

A TRAINING VICTORY

I always love it when students make progress with their horses. The family purchased the horse, Pepper, for Student last fall. Student has been taking lessons and the whole family has been interacting with Pepper.

When Student began riding Pepper, he was not able to steer him. (For safety, his dad walks along with Pepper on a lead line as they become acquainted.) Student has progressed to the point of being able to control where they go and ride through patterns.

When Pepper came he did not back up – would not even think about it. Dad and Mom found a way to get him to back from the ground – first by physically tapping on his chest, then applying pressure to the lead line attached to the halter and finally (from the ground) asking through the reins.

Each lesson I have asked Student to try backing Pepper and each time Dad has had to finally put his hands on the reins to make it happen. GUESS WHAT? Tonight Student was able to back Pepper by his own effort not once, not twice but THREE times. He’s not just riding, he’s training.

AN UNEXPECTED LESSON

On this particular day, I was watching a training DVD and decided to try some of the information with a more experienced rider on Shag. To digress, I feel Shag is getting very bored with his riders because things become a tug of war when trying to steer. He also does not want to move forward at times. This particular rider has been experimenting with different approaches with Shag and has had some success. I notice that Shag is a lot happier horse when his rider becomes more interesting.

 

This particular day I had planned to incorporate a training stick in the work out to strengthen communication and reduce reliance on physical connection. Rider had been working very well with the project and Shag was looking very relaxed and working in a willing manner.

Suddenly, looking at the pony pen I noticed all five ponies in a stance that spoke of ‘possible predator on the perimeter’ – heads were up, ears were forward and all heads were looking the same direction. As Rider came around the end of the arena I asked him to look where the ponies were looking and tell me what he saw. He answered, “A llama.”