Temperatures were still bitter cold yesterday so I decided just to work Pixie and Navi in the indoor arena. Pixie has a new obsession with the big green ball that we play soccer with. The minute I turn her loose she heads straight over to it and starts pushing it around, all the while stopping to look at me to see if she can have treats. Much to her dismay I didn't reward her for playing with the ball. I tried to explain to her we can't just play with the ball every time we enter the arena, lol, sometimes we have to work on other things. She didn't believe me though, so instead of free lounging we did some on-lead work. She worked beautifully once I got her focus off the ball :) Hopefully today we can get some riding in and then we can play some soccer to reward her.
Navi had a day packed with lessons. She has been off the last week or so due to me working and then the bitter cold weather. I figured it was time for her to learn yielding her hindquarters, backing up out of my space, and the start of lounging. I started out the day easy for her I turned her loose and we just worked on not leaving me when walking. She gets rewarding for staying with me, if she leaves no big deal, she just doesn't get rewards. She has this down pat! She sticks to me like glue, in fact so much that our first lesson on the lead was backing away when I told her too. It took her a minute, but she figured out pretty fast if she moved away I would come to her with the reward. Was she perfect, no, we had our baby moments of wanting to move into me and the pressure. But I would call it a good first lesson on leaving my space.
Lounging time. She did really well overall, she left my space when requested and with a small amount of pressure would move out. We had a few tail swishes and one tiny kick out when I tapped her to go faster. We walked and trotted both directions a few times around before calling it good. She only tried to leave the circle a few times, but was easily brought back in. All in all a great first lounging. I have dealt with older horses that are much worse. I am sure she will test in the future, but I am prepared :)
Yielding hind quarters proved to be a bit more tricky. I started asking her to flex and not move. I wanted to discourage forward movement. Well she flexed both ways nicely, but when I would ask for her to move just her back-end she would pull forward and against me. So I backed up and made sure I was asking her in a very clear way. She did what most babies do, she moved forward into me numerous times. I would stop and correct her, and the minute she would even just lean her back end without moving her front end I would reward her. Before long she was yielding both sides. Perfectly..no, but she was no longer trying to run me over so it was a win and we will work on it more today.
I love having two horses in completely different stages of training. I find joy in teaching Navi the small things and perfecting Pixie in the more difficult areas. It has also shown me just how far Pixie and I have come! I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a horse you couldn't free lounge. Pixie can walk, trot, canter with no line and not leave my circle. She will move out and in on command, its odd going back to the beginning, but rewarding all at the same time. I can yield Pixie's hindquarters just by looking at them and from almost any distance. Even when she is running around her pen having a brain fart refusing to be caught (she was off her game this last week and luckily she she back to herself now)she will still stop and turn into me. Pixie can be spooky and un-trusting, but if treated right she can do about anything! Navi is super confident and trusting. I expect she will test me in more ways then one as we progress in our training. The one thing I have to keep in mind, is I don't want her to give up and just do it. I never have to worry about that with Pixie, she will always tell me when I push her to hard. She will leave me if she doesn't trust me in the situation. Navi is the polar opposite. I don't want a broke horse I want a trained horse.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Christmas 2012
The horses got the day off for Christmas. Mainly cause it was bitter cold! With a high temp of about 8 degrees it was too cold for me to want to do much. I went out in the morning to feed grain and supplements and while I was there I decided to snap some pictures of them enjoying their breakfast.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
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| Navi |
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| Jess. Pixie in the background |
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| Pixie |
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| Willow |
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| Jess, frozen eyelashes |
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| Jess in back, Navi up close |
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| Pixie Dust |
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| Navi |
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| Willow |
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| Pixie Dust |
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| Yankee, a horse boarded at my barn, I just think he is beautiful. |
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Good day with a scary end
Last Thursday, we set out early to go shopping for horse blankets for Navi. We lucked out with finding three! Granted one is for next year, but at least we are covered next winter too :)
Besides her lightweight canvas blanket we picked up her heavy weight blankets. We got two different sizes so she can grow into them.
Once we had Navi's blankets figured out we grabbed Pixie and Willow to have some quality time with them. Pixie and I had a fantastic ride. It was indoors due to weather, but we worked on side passing. She is finally getting it :) Besides working on important things we also played a little soccer with the big green ball. Pixie loves playing soccer cause it gets her treats. She was trotting around after the ball with excitement...it was fun for her and I.
Willow and my partner had a great time riding too! They were able to ride inside with a halter only. Its the first time they have ridden bitless! It was a great accomplishment for them both. Willow was a gem still listening to commands and gaiting beautifully. I am so proud of them both. I knew we would love Willow the first time I ever rode her. She is a great horse.
After riding we set out to feed supplements and then the plan was to leave to go get dinner for ourselves. Well it didn't go as planned. Two bites into Jess's alfalfa pellets we knew he was starting to choke. Pixie had choked on me last year, but walking and massaging her throat for 45 minutes she got it unstuck. We always soaked her pellets because of this, but Jess has never been a gulper and has eating them dry for a long time. So we walked him and starting massaging his thought. But he kept getting worse. So after ten minutes or so we took him up to the barn where he started full body heaving. Poor guy! I ran off to call the vet while my partner and the BO watched him. The closest vet in town was tied up on another case for 45 minutes at least, so I went down the list. Taking a chance and calling my vet that is an hour away, but as luck would have it he was in town and close to us. He would be on his way as fast as he could. Thank goodness! That was at 4:02 when I got off the phone with the vet. We had to wait 30 minutes or so for him to arrive, and that 30 minutes was the longest 30 minutes I have had in a long long while. He was coughing up his saliva, heaving, and had saliva coming out of his nose. His neck was swelling up too. The vet got there and sedated him and tubed him to dislodge the chunk of pellets. He would be okay, but we had to wait hours to feed him hay and he had to have it soaked that night and in the am. Plan was then for me to come back and feed him and watch him to make sure his breathing was normal for the night. Needless to say dinner for us turned into going to a drive through. But that is okay, cause Jess was going to be okay. I went back at 6:30pm waited till 8 to feed him and then set with him until almost 10 to make sure he was done eating and safe for the night.
Jess got turn back out the next morning into a open pen with more soaked hay for breakfast. He got to go back in with the girls for dinner. He is back to himself now. Going forward no one gets any grain without it being soaked first. Willow now has mash for grain too.
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| Navi sporting her canvas blanket for kinda cold days |
Once we had Navi's blankets figured out we grabbed Pixie and Willow to have some quality time with them. Pixie and I had a fantastic ride. It was indoors due to weather, but we worked on side passing. She is finally getting it :) Besides working on important things we also played a little soccer with the big green ball. Pixie loves playing soccer cause it gets her treats. She was trotting around after the ball with excitement...it was fun for her and I.
Willow and my partner had a great time riding too! They were able to ride inside with a halter only. Its the first time they have ridden bitless! It was a great accomplishment for them both. Willow was a gem still listening to commands and gaiting beautifully. I am so proud of them both. I knew we would love Willow the first time I ever rode her. She is a great horse.
After riding we set out to feed supplements and then the plan was to leave to go get dinner for ourselves. Well it didn't go as planned. Two bites into Jess's alfalfa pellets we knew he was starting to choke. Pixie had choked on me last year, but walking and massaging her throat for 45 minutes she got it unstuck. We always soaked her pellets because of this, but Jess has never been a gulper and has eating them dry for a long time. So we walked him and starting massaging his thought. But he kept getting worse. So after ten minutes or so we took him up to the barn where he started full body heaving. Poor guy! I ran off to call the vet while my partner and the BO watched him. The closest vet in town was tied up on another case for 45 minutes at least, so I went down the list. Taking a chance and calling my vet that is an hour away, but as luck would have it he was in town and close to us. He would be on his way as fast as he could. Thank goodness! That was at 4:02 when I got off the phone with the vet. We had to wait 30 minutes or so for him to arrive, and that 30 minutes was the longest 30 minutes I have had in a long long while. He was coughing up his saliva, heaving, and had saliva coming out of his nose. His neck was swelling up too. The vet got there and sedated him and tubed him to dislodge the chunk of pellets. He would be okay, but we had to wait hours to feed him hay and he had to have it soaked that night and in the am. Plan was then for me to come back and feed him and watch him to make sure his breathing was normal for the night. Needless to say dinner for us turned into going to a drive through. But that is okay, cause Jess was going to be okay. I went back at 6:30pm waited till 8 to feed him and then set with him until almost 10 to make sure he was done eating and safe for the night.
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| Me watching Jess eating his soaked hay |
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| My spot to sit and keep warm. Mounting block as a chair and his blanket to keep me warm |
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Navi gets turned out
Yesterday was a big day for us and Navi. She finally was able to go out with the other horses. We were glad we could turn her out on our day off so we could watch and make sure it all went well. I wasn't expecting too many problems, but you never can guess what will happen when introducing a new horse to the herd.
Jess was a perfect gentleman as expected, he just walked up smelled her and went on his way. He never has been one to start problems. He is top horse in our pen, but it is his calm manor that puts him in charge.
Pixie did try to kick at her once, but then just pinned her ears. She made sure Navi knew she was top mare. Really Pixie did better than I thought she would, she can be such a mare at times :)
Willow ignored Navi at first, but then once she noticed her she took off after her ears pinned and chased her around for a bit. Willow currently is the lowest out of the three so I think she wanted to make her point that she is at least above Navi.
After a while though something interesting happened. Pixie started to intervene between Willow and Navi. Pixie would push Navi around, but if Willow tried Pixie would get in the middle and not allow it. Pixie then started hanging out closer to Navi without making angry faces. I don't know what the end result will be...my best guess is Navi will remain on the bottom of the herd. It was interesting to watch them all day. I can say that even with all the pushing around no one ever made contact, no biting or kicking. That makes me one happy horse-mom. My horses are not bullies :)
After all was calm and everyone settle in with the new change we decided to blanket everyone since windchills were supposed to be around -10. We got Pixie and Willow blanketed, Jess was already wearing his, so they were set. Now what about Navi? We tried two blankets on her, both were too big. Luckily my BO (Barn Owner) came to the rescue and found one of her blankets that fit Navi. I want to find an adjustable one, cause Navi will outgrow anything I buy now :( I still want to have a blanket on hand for the super cold nights. For the most part she will be like Pixie and Willow who stay naked during the winter with the exception of bitter nights. Jess is the only one we keep blanketed more often than not in the winter and that is due to his age.
We also measured Navi to start tracking her growth. She currently stands around 13.3 HH and is around 700lbs.
Jess was a perfect gentleman as expected, he just walked up smelled her and went on his way. He never has been one to start problems. He is top horse in our pen, but it is his calm manor that puts him in charge.
Pixie did try to kick at her once, but then just pinned her ears. She made sure Navi knew she was top mare. Really Pixie did better than I thought she would, she can be such a mare at times :)
Willow ignored Navi at first, but then once she noticed her she took off after her ears pinned and chased her around for a bit. Willow currently is the lowest out of the three so I think she wanted to make her point that she is at least above Navi.
After a while though something interesting happened. Pixie started to intervene between Willow and Navi. Pixie would push Navi around, but if Willow tried Pixie would get in the middle and not allow it. Pixie then started hanging out closer to Navi without making angry faces. I don't know what the end result will be...my best guess is Navi will remain on the bottom of the herd. It was interesting to watch them all day. I can say that even with all the pushing around no one ever made contact, no biting or kicking. That makes me one happy horse-mom. My horses are not bullies :)
After all was calm and everyone settle in with the new change we decided to blanket everyone since windchills were supposed to be around -10. We got Pixie and Willow blanketed, Jess was already wearing his, so they were set. Now what about Navi? We tried two blankets on her, both were too big. Luckily my BO (Barn Owner) came to the rescue and found one of her blankets that fit Navi. I want to find an adjustable one, cause Navi will outgrow anything I buy now :( I still want to have a blanket on hand for the super cold nights. For the most part she will be like Pixie and Willow who stay naked during the winter with the exception of bitter nights. Jess is the only one we keep blanketed more often than not in the winter and that is due to his age.
We also measured Navi to start tracking her growth. She currently stands around 13.3 HH and is around 700lbs.
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| Navi getting ready for her first night outside after a month of being stalled. |
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Ticks
There are some insects/bugs that make me go out of my mind with fright. Spiders are one such bug. I can clear a room in 1 sec flat if I see a spider! However, luckily for me ticks are not one bug that scares me. For some reason they don't bother me. Maybe it because as a small child spending my summers in Arkansas they were everywhere and after a while you either didn't go outside or you got used to them. My partner on the other hand isn't bothered by bugs at all, that is with one exception. And that one exception would be ticks. So I can imagine her response yesterday when she found a tick on Navi.
I called her after work to say I was coming to the barn when she informed me Navi had ticks. While they don't bother me, I still don't want them on Navi. So I stopped at the feed store to pick up something to kill them. Needless to say there isn't much option in December in Montana. I did manage to find some stuff. When I arrived at the barn I was informed there was still another on in her mane. My partner does not like to touch them, so she left it for me, lol. However that meant I had to find it! Luckily for me her mane is white and she is still short enough I can see over top of her. After a few minutes I spotted the little bugger, it wasn't attached yet. I then proceeded to spray her everywhere with fly and tick spray. After doing some good old research on google, I think they may be Winter ticks. Could be wrong...they could be just Deer ticks. I don't really know, but I don't think she is infested. From reading up they lay eggs on the ground not on the host like fleas. The baby ones otherwise known as seed ticks (to me anyways) will feed on a host,but you can still see them luckily. Regardless this week will be devoted to treating her and making sure we get them all.
I called her after work to say I was coming to the barn when she informed me Navi had ticks. While they don't bother me, I still don't want them on Navi. So I stopped at the feed store to pick up something to kill them. Needless to say there isn't much option in December in Montana. I did manage to find some stuff. When I arrived at the barn I was informed there was still another on in her mane. My partner does not like to touch them, so she left it for me, lol. However that meant I had to find it! Luckily for me her mane is white and she is still short enough I can see over top of her. After a few minutes I spotted the little bugger, it wasn't attached yet. I then proceeded to spray her everywhere with fly and tick spray. After doing some good old research on google, I think they may be Winter ticks. Could be wrong...they could be just Deer ticks. I don't really know, but I don't think she is infested. From reading up they lay eggs on the ground not on the host like fleas. The baby ones otherwise known as seed ticks (to me anyways) will feed on a host,but you can still see them luckily. Regardless this week will be devoted to treating her and making sure we get them all.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Three Weeks
Today marks three weeks since Navi came home. Usually there isn't anything exciting about three weeks, but for us it means that we are 99.5 % sure that we are in the clear from any disease she may have picked up at the sale yard. Yippy! We still have one week left before we turn her out with the other horses, but at this point she seems to be one healthy filly :) The vet has seen her twice and says she looks great!
Because we have moved past the quarantine stage now she has been getting turned out in the outside round pen during the day for some fresh air. Although now she has decided she likes her stall, and she is refusing to leave it! She leads great coming back into the barn, but leaving the barn is very slow going. I haven't ever seen a horse that doesn't want to come out of the stall. My thought is she doesn't like being in the round pen all day by herself since there are other horses in the barn. I could be wrong, but its the only rational I can come up with besides that she eats in her stall and would rather wait all day to eat then go outside. I would put more thought into this issue if she was going to stay stalled, but soon enough it won't be an issue. We will put lots of training into leaving the pen though, lol, I am sure of that!
We did get some good training time in on Friday. We worked on targeting and touch. Really all I want from her right now is to learn how to learn. We spent some time in the round pen teaching touch on command. I am using my hand as the target and when we work on it we are always working on not being pushy for treats. Of course she is a baby and is still trying to figure out how to get the treats, so we have some learning to do on not mouthing me. Over all she is being pretty good, I can see the wheels turning in her head when trying to figure out what I want her to do. After our target training session we worked on moving off of pressure...not her favorite thing! She is LAZY! We did some trotting around the pen, she is hard to motivate to get moving faster than a walk. I am thinking we will have to come up with some creative ways to make moving faster rewarding for her.
After training with Navi, my partner and I got Pixie and Willow and went for a short ride. We try to take advantage of any nice weather we can to ride outside. The girls were great as always! I love my mares!
Yesterday was extremely busy at work, so I ended up getting out an hour late. Nothing unusual about that around the holidays. I love being busy at work, however it does cut into my training time during the winter since its dark by 5 and I am tired. I did go straight out to the barn after work though and said hi to Pixie, Willow, and Jess. They were all good, but disappointed I didn't bring them their treats. I was still able to sneak in a little bit of time with Navi before heading home. We brushed, picked hooves, and detangled her tail. The only training we did was work on head lowering on command. She did well. I think that will be an easy command for her as she is pretty relaxed all the time, unlike Pixie who still struggles with it. All in all Navi is coming along nicely. I swear her back end has had a growth spurt the last two weeks. Looking at her yesterday I think her butt is as high as her head, lol. Okay maybe its not that bad, but she is currently downhill.
Because we have moved past the quarantine stage now she has been getting turned out in the outside round pen during the day for some fresh air. Although now she has decided she likes her stall, and she is refusing to leave it! She leads great coming back into the barn, but leaving the barn is very slow going. I haven't ever seen a horse that doesn't want to come out of the stall. My thought is she doesn't like being in the round pen all day by herself since there are other horses in the barn. I could be wrong, but its the only rational I can come up with besides that she eats in her stall and would rather wait all day to eat then go outside. I would put more thought into this issue if she was going to stay stalled, but soon enough it won't be an issue. We will put lots of training into leaving the pen though, lol, I am sure of that!
We did get some good training time in on Friday. We worked on targeting and touch. Really all I want from her right now is to learn how to learn. We spent some time in the round pen teaching touch on command. I am using my hand as the target and when we work on it we are always working on not being pushy for treats. Of course she is a baby and is still trying to figure out how to get the treats, so we have some learning to do on not mouthing me. Over all she is being pretty good, I can see the wheels turning in her head when trying to figure out what I want her to do. After our target training session we worked on moving off of pressure...not her favorite thing! She is LAZY! We did some trotting around the pen, she is hard to motivate to get moving faster than a walk. I am thinking we will have to come up with some creative ways to make moving faster rewarding for her.
After training with Navi, my partner and I got Pixie and Willow and went for a short ride. We try to take advantage of any nice weather we can to ride outside. The girls were great as always! I love my mares!
Yesterday was extremely busy at work, so I ended up getting out an hour late. Nothing unusual about that around the holidays. I love being busy at work, however it does cut into my training time during the winter since its dark by 5 and I am tired. I did go straight out to the barn after work though and said hi to Pixie, Willow, and Jess. They were all good, but disappointed I didn't bring them their treats. I was still able to sneak in a little bit of time with Navi before heading home. We brushed, picked hooves, and detangled her tail. The only training we did was work on head lowering on command. She did well. I think that will be an easy command for her as she is pretty relaxed all the time, unlike Pixie who still struggles with it. All in all Navi is coming along nicely. I swear her back end has had a growth spurt the last two weeks. Looking at her yesterday I think her butt is as high as her head, lol. Okay maybe its not that bad, but she is currently downhill.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Farrier Day and Tarp introduction
Today was farrier day at the barn. We have been working with Navi for the past two weeks getting her ready for this. Her feet were super long and we had to make sure it was done today as my farrier lives 2 hours a way and only comes up every 7 weeks. I am super proud to report she was great! She stood like a champ only trying to pull her back foot away once, and really she barely tried pulling it away. I hope all future farrier visits go this well!
After the farrier trim we put her in the arena to run around a bit. She got the all okay from the vet and she seems to be over her cold so now she can be turned loose to run :) It took her some time to realize she wasn't attached to me. She just followed me around at first, until I sent her away, then she finally kicked up her heels and ran around for the first time since coming home. It was great seeing her feel good enough to run.
I decided today would be a good day to start introducing her to strange objects, so we busted out the tarp. I put it down and walked her to it...and yep, she was like most babies and wanted to eat it! Within ten minutes we had it on her and walking her around. She is proving to be a very confident horse. With any luck that will prove to be a great thing as we move into making her a trail horse.
I have to start remembering my camera when I go to the barn. My cell phone pictures are just not very good! But regardless I wanted to capture our first time with the tarp.
After the farrier trim we put her in the arena to run around a bit. She got the all okay from the vet and she seems to be over her cold so now she can be turned loose to run :) It took her some time to realize she wasn't attached to me. She just followed me around at first, until I sent her away, then she finally kicked up her heels and ran around for the first time since coming home. It was great seeing her feel good enough to run.
I decided today would be a good day to start introducing her to strange objects, so we busted out the tarp. I put it down and walked her to it...and yep, she was like most babies and wanted to eat it! Within ten minutes we had it on her and walking her around. She is proving to be a very confident horse. With any luck that will prove to be a great thing as we move into making her a trail horse.
I have to start remembering my camera when I go to the barn. My cell phone pictures are just not very good! But regardless I wanted to capture our first time with the tarp.
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| Yes, she does get brushed I promise! |
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Finding Time
My BO has been out of town for the last five days, so that means I am taking care of everything at the barn. I always love being able to help, its fun! I, however, have decided that everyone who boards their horses should be forever thankful to the people who run the barns. I know after this weekend I am even more thankful for my wonderful BO who takes care of my horses day and night and often times gives up time with her own horses to take care of others. I know and fully understand that is what everyone who boards is paying for, but can one really put a price on not having to worry about if their horses will get food during the the worst of all seasons.
Needless to say I have been running around like crazy this weekend. I was able to find time to work Pixie in the indoor on Sunday. I cherished that time. I only hope Navi and I can have the same bound. Pixie was full of it since it was a windy cool day. She was literally trotting circles around me wanting to do something. So we played at liberty, trotting around and just having fun!
Navi has been getting walked twice a day. She is doing great at everything we throw at her. We have been handling her feet and should be ready for Saturday when the farrier comes out. Lets hope anyways...she is a baby after all. She is still fighting off a snotty nose and a slight cough. So far its nothing serious she is still eating and drinking. We will have the vet out this week hopefully just to make sure she is on the mend.
Jess and Willow have been enjoying their time off this weekend. They are doing great. We are super lucky to have horses that can be ridden once a week and still be perfect!
My BO is due back tomorrow...so I will be able to get a lot more time in with my horses :)
Needless to say I have been running around like crazy this weekend. I was able to find time to work Pixie in the indoor on Sunday. I cherished that time. I only hope Navi and I can have the same bound. Pixie was full of it since it was a windy cool day. She was literally trotting circles around me wanting to do something. So we played at liberty, trotting around and just having fun!
Navi has been getting walked twice a day. She is doing great at everything we throw at her. We have been handling her feet and should be ready for Saturday when the farrier comes out. Lets hope anyways...she is a baby after all. She is still fighting off a snotty nose and a slight cough. So far its nothing serious she is still eating and drinking. We will have the vet out this week hopefully just to make sure she is on the mend.
Jess and Willow have been enjoying their time off this weekend. They are doing great. We are super lucky to have horses that can be ridden once a week and still be perfect!
My BO is due back tomorrow...so I will be able to get a lot more time in with my horses :)
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Clicker training, liberty work, and pressure and release.
This post isn't about any one horse really. It more has to do with my stance on training. Years ago only one way of horse training was known. It was harsh, and all to often you hear the reasoning it has to be so harsh is because they are big animals so you have to be harsh in order to be safe. And in some cases I won't dispute that reasoning. They are big animals with the ability to hurt you, but in most cases you don't have to be harsh to get good results.
Back when I got Pixie she was flighty, not trusting, and had no confidence. It took me a while to find that out though. I had already ridden her and it wasn't until I did new things I figure out instead of her looking to me for safety she thought she had to leave. She wanted nothing to do with me when things got scary. So I turned to traditional natural horsemanship methods to try and find the answers. Some worked, and other days we were running around the round pen for hours and she was out of her mind with fright. It was one of those days I decided this wasn't working there had to be another way. So I started looking into my ways of training dogs and reading up on positive reward training for horses.
I started by just hanging out with her, no more riding until we got trust. We introduced her to the clicker and food rewards. I used a combination of pressure and release with rewards to teach her the important things like not bolting when something scary happened. Then I started to teach her to think things through by using the clicker to start target training. We started with easy things like touch the mounting block and get rewarded. I wanted her to learn how to learn. We spend months on ground work alone. During that time most of it was spend off line in the round pen. Not running, but just hanging out. I wanted to know how far I could push before she left me. Haltering her and forcing her to stay was a band aid approach for her. She needed learn on her own that I was the safe place, but without force. I had set a goal of in one year we would be able to trail ride. We did meet that goal :)
I prefer to work at liberty with my horses, it gives them the chance to say no and for me to figure out why they are saying no. Does this mean they get to do what ever they want, nope it does not. I set rules and boundaries just like with positive reward dog training. Do I still use traditional tack? Yes, I do. We use halters, bridles, bits, saddles, etc... I am not an against the use of tack, I just don't like to use it as a band aid. Does it have its place to teach new things...yes, I recently switch bits with Pixie to try and help her collect better. It worked. But now I mix it up ride with just the halter one day and the bit the next. I will always try to find the least forceful way to teach something first. I have no time limit with my horses, so I can take as long as I need to train new things.
I made mistakes with Pixie and learned from them. Jess didn't have to learn anything new, and Willow we have used our new ways of training and she has grown so much in the last few months. Navi will be trained using a combination of pressure and release and clicker training.
Back when I got Pixie she was flighty, not trusting, and had no confidence. It took me a while to find that out though. I had already ridden her and it wasn't until I did new things I figure out instead of her looking to me for safety she thought she had to leave. She wanted nothing to do with me when things got scary. So I turned to traditional natural horsemanship methods to try and find the answers. Some worked, and other days we were running around the round pen for hours and she was out of her mind with fright. It was one of those days I decided this wasn't working there had to be another way. So I started looking into my ways of training dogs and reading up on positive reward training for horses.
I started by just hanging out with her, no more riding until we got trust. We introduced her to the clicker and food rewards. I used a combination of pressure and release with rewards to teach her the important things like not bolting when something scary happened. Then I started to teach her to think things through by using the clicker to start target training. We started with easy things like touch the mounting block and get rewarded. I wanted her to learn how to learn. We spend months on ground work alone. During that time most of it was spend off line in the round pen. Not running, but just hanging out. I wanted to know how far I could push before she left me. Haltering her and forcing her to stay was a band aid approach for her. She needed learn on her own that I was the safe place, but without force. I had set a goal of in one year we would be able to trail ride. We did meet that goal :)
I prefer to work at liberty with my horses, it gives them the chance to say no and for me to figure out why they are saying no. Does this mean they get to do what ever they want, nope it does not. I set rules and boundaries just like with positive reward dog training. Do I still use traditional tack? Yes, I do. We use halters, bridles, bits, saddles, etc... I am not an against the use of tack, I just don't like to use it as a band aid. Does it have its place to teach new things...yes, I recently switch bits with Pixie to try and help her collect better. It worked. But now I mix it up ride with just the halter one day and the bit the next. I will always try to find the least forceful way to teach something first. I have no time limit with my horses, so I can take as long as I need to train new things.
I made mistakes with Pixie and learned from them. Jess didn't have to learn anything new, and Willow we have used our new ways of training and she has grown so much in the last few months. Navi will be trained using a combination of pressure and release and clicker training.
Good rides and Navi has first lesson
Yesterday was perfect weather for a nice ride outside. So after we tended to Navi in the morning and did our errands we caught Pixie and Willow for a relaxing ride. The girls were super excited to leave the arena and get moving out. I love it when they enjoy the rides as much as we do. We ended up riding for a hour or so. The girls were perfect! After riding we supplemented them and Jess. Then it was already time for a late lunch.
After lunch it was time to get Navi back out for exercise and some feet handling. Our first order of business with her is to get her really really long feet trimmed. I had handled her front feet, but not back feet yet. So I started with a rope. Asking her to picked up all four feet with the rope...success! Not one kick out! After that I decided to just pick them all up once before we called it a day. Success again! She let me picked up each foot without fuss. I am so grateful since the farrier with be here on the 8th and she has to have them trimmed. We will spend the next week making sure she is more than ready so there won't be any issues hopefully.
Along with feet handling we are starting work on flexing and giving to pressure. So we started asking for right and left flexing and not leaning. She picked up on it right away and we ended on a great note!! I don't expect all training to go this well, but so far we are off to a good start!
After lunch it was time to get Navi back out for exercise and some feet handling. Our first order of business with her is to get her really really long feet trimmed. I had handled her front feet, but not back feet yet. So I started with a rope. Asking her to picked up all four feet with the rope...success! Not one kick out! After that I decided to just pick them all up once before we called it a day. Success again! She let me picked up each foot without fuss. I am so grateful since the farrier with be here on the 8th and she has to have them trimmed. We will spend the next week making sure she is more than ready so there won't be any issues hopefully.
Along with feet handling we are starting work on flexing and giving to pressure. So we started asking for right and left flexing and not leaning. She picked up on it right away and we ended on a great note!! I don't expect all training to go this well, but so far we are off to a good start!
Skip N Navajo #246
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| This is an older picture of her from the website she was listed for sale on before going to auction. |
I got to the auction at 7am to walk around and then watch the loose horse sale. My friend met me there later in the morning so we ate, walked and then parked ourselves for the main horse sale. Later in the afternoon my partner met us there. We talked and then got a number to buy if we wanted. At this time we still had no intentions. But then we went out to look at the foals...we decided to bid on one. Crazy, yes, but it seemed right. Well I lost the bid on the first saddlebred I bid on. That was okay, it wasn't meant to be. My partner left after that and my friend and I stayed to watch the rest of the herd dispersal go later. That is when I decided to try for the last yearling. She had seemed sweet in the pens earlier in the day. We had spend time with them all, and really liked her. With that she was in the ring and not five minutes later and one bid I had won. It all happened so fast I looked at my friend and said "Did I win her". I jumped up and we headed down to pay. On the way out I ran into the person selling her and I told her I won #246. And with that she was mine and I had to figure out when to bring her home since it was after 7 pm and I didn't have my trailer with me.
Navi came home the next day after I got off work. I went to the barn to get a end stall prepared. She has to be isolated from the other horses for a month just in case. Better to be safe. I don't know much about her yet, other than she seems like she loves attention and is really calm. Oh and she doesn't know what a carrot is yet...but that will change soon enough :)
A Windstorm (Willow)
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| Willow |
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| Willow in front, Pixie in back |
Willow was our first registered horse. She was born in April 2001. Making her the same age as Pixie. It was perfect now both our trail horses were the same age and fitness level. Willow competed in the big Celebration TWH show in Tennessee as a yearling and 2 year old. She won multiple blue ribbons as a young filly both in hand and under saddle. Of course none of that matters really and she is no longer going to show or breed. But its always fun to think of her winning :)
Willow has been a perfect trail horse this year. She has gained confidence and taken care of us. We look forward to many more great trail rides with her.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Jess 1991- Jan 24th 2018
Jess came to us in January 2011. We started looking for a horse for my partner as Pixie was proving to be too much horse for a green rider. So after taking lessons on Jess for a few months it was decided that we would buy him. He is a grade older Quarter horse. He has his cranky old man ways, but he is safe and that was the most important thing to us. It was his job to teach her how to ride and safely take her out on trail rides. And that is just what he has done. He even was a trooper when we got lost out on the trails in May of 2012, well not lost really, but farther out then we wanted. What was supposed to be a hour to two hour ride turned into five hours of up and down steep hills! He safely carried her without a bad step the entire time. Even though we knew at the end he had to be in pain from his arthritis. Unfortunately a few weeks after that ride he hurt his shoulder some how and that would marked his retirement from trail riding. We had a over a year of enjoying the trails with him and that was enough. He had done his job he was the safe teacher that we needed at the time. He had earned his retirement. We rode him some lightly around the barn this last spring and summer, but this fall we decided to pull his shoes and give him true retirement. Many people wonder why we keep him, he is older, lame, and not pretty. But he earned every bit of his easy life now. Before us he was a hard working rodeo/rope horse. He is worth his weight in gold!
Pixie Dust
In June of 2010 I decided it was time for me to enter the world of horse ownership again. I wanted to rescue more than buy. I looked at ads everyday so excited to find a horse. I saw Pixie's ad she was stunning! But nothing that I was looking for in a horse. I always like loud colors and she is plain chestnut. I wanted a big stout horse, she fine boned, but I had to go see her. The ad said she hated her ears touched and was a nice mare, but needed miles. No problem I thought! So we went for a few visits and decided yes we wanted to adopt her. We signed the papers and on July 10 she came home. I now owned a 2001 Saddlebred Mare! She had previously been starved when the person I got her from had rescued her. Her true history unknown, but the picture proves with a little love and work any horse has potential!
I have now had her for over 2 years and she is my heart and soul. In the beginning she bolted while riding, threw my partner off of her, and had me in tears and ready to give up more than once. But then I decided to take my positive reward dog training skills and try them on her. It worked! We started to gain trust and see improvements. She is now the most amazing trail horse and best friend I could ask for. Over the past two years we have had our setbacks but more important we have had amazing accomplishments.
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