Trimming Griffin

This past weekend, I was going contemplating attempting to turn Griffin loose in the pasture, even though I think he probably won't let me catch him when he's loose. I was just going to do it with a drag rope, start by leading him around the pasture, and then play it by ear. I'm pretty sure I could get him recaptured easily with grain so I was only really worried about if he'd respect the fence. And I would have all the other horses tied/penned while I took him out.

Well, I didn't get around to it, because I decided that he really needed a hoof trim before I turned him loose. I haven't been keeping myself in very good shape since summer ended, because I sit at a desk all day. I try to go for walks, but it's been COLD. And I only get to do horse stuff and outside work on weekends. So, I'm pretty out of shape. So, trimming Griffin's hooves was quite the feat! I had hardly any strength to squeeze the nippers, plus he's got really hard thick toe walls! I only managed to do the first 3 hooves on Saturday because I had to be someplace and ran out of time. He was pretty good about those three hooves though. But then, Sunday rolled around and I attempted to do the last hoof. He wasn't having any of it. I'm not sure why he was so bad about that hoof. Maybe it was the fact that I went right to the back and I usually start with the fronts? Regardless, he became more and more uncomfortable with me back there, till he got to the point where I could get him to stand still, but as soon as I held his foot off the ground, he'd panic and little and take it away, then squirt away from me and circle as I tried to walk at his hip to get him to stop. Before he got really bad, I had actually nipped one edge, so he had one heel trimmed and the other not. I couldn't leave him like that! But it was beginning to look like I wasn't going to convince him to cooperate. He wasn't just being naughty either. He never pinned his ears or kicked at me or anything, he just was nervous about me back at his hind end (he always has been), and had worked himself up to where it felt better to step away from me, than to relax and let me have his foot.

So, at this point, I realized I needed to somehow turn the situation into the other way around. I wanted him relaxed when I held his foot, and uncomfortable if he circled around me. So, I got another rope and looped it around his hind leg. Then I preceeded to ask him to stand and let me pick up his foot. Everytime he got worried and took his foot back and started circling, I just stayed right with him and pulled on that rope around his foot. He really didn't like fighting to keep his balance with that rope on his foot. As soon as he stopped and relaxed, I took away all tension on the rope. We did this several times until he stopped circling at all. He still was taking his foot back, but he was rapidly getting less and less inclined to commit to completely evading me. So, the time he actually let me hold it up, pull it back and wipe on it, I just gave it back to him and called it a day. I wanted him to sit and think about how that had just ended.

I came back a half a day later to see if I could finish his hoof. I looped the rope around his hoof again, and this time, he didn't circle away from me at all! Having that rope was a good reminder for him. I was able to get him to stand relaxed and allow me to finish trimming the rest of his hoof. Trimmed and filed. He was perfect, like he used to be. I owe it all to that rope around his leg! I like little tricks that change a horse's mind.

After that, I removed all the other horses from the pasture (except Kachina, I figured she could stay in), and then took Griffin for a walk around the fenceline. Kachina followed us like a puppy dog most of the way. The rest of the time, she was tearing around and playing. Griffin was quite the gentlemen throughout the whole time. He really respects the halter and leadrope and I just have to pull a little to get his attention was Kachina was telling him that she really wanted to go run off with him.

So, I decided that when I do get to the point of letting Griffin out, I'm going to pen Kachina back up. I think that she will be a bad influence on him and get him running around a lot. I'd like his intro to the herd to be calm. After a week or two of just Griffin with the herd, I'll turn Kachina back loose with them.

I really hope adding a second gelding into the mix with a gelding and three mares doesn't create friction. Chico has already shown that he will defend his mares against strange geldings. I just hope that Griffin is not considered a strange gelding anymore.

A funny side note: Well, sorta funny. Kachina is the bottom of the pecking order, but she's not necessarily resigned to being lowly and depressed. She doesn't necessarily outright challenge the others with the expect that she'll move up, but she is NOT intimidated by them, and she'll let them know it! She still will get out of their way when they tell her to, but then there are times when she will "play" with them. She mostly plays with Chico, and that's probably because the two mares are just grouchy and interested in making Kachina mind. Chico will play back. It is a regular event to see them rearing and playing. Kachina really gets into it. She's lighter than chubby Chico, so she'll readily get up on her hind legs and paw at him.

And one day this weekend, I was walking through their pasture and the horses were standing on one of their trails through the snow watching me. Cody was closest, then Chico, then Kachina. They don't like to walk off the trails because then they sink in the snow. I called them as I started walking away, and they began to follow me. But Kachina was not happy that she had to be in the back...she wanted to get close to me and Cody and Chico were being way too slow, so she took a lesser traveled trail along the bottom of the hill to bypass the slow pokes. When she got alongside Cody (about 25 feet away), Cody flipped her nose out at her (back off! I'm the leader!), and Kachina immediately flipped her nose back at Cody (yeah? Well, you're slow and fat!)and kept walking. Cody was not about to accept that kind of disrepect, so she flipped her nose at Kachina again, then pinned her ears, and went after her. The whole herd then disappeared up over the hill. It was hilarious to see that subtle communication among them!

But, Kachina has some major bite marks and bare patches because of her insolence. The poor girl has thin skin and it abrades easily, but that doesn't stop her from fighting back. Most of her bare patches are on her upper neck, and I'm pretty sure she got those while she was fighting/playing. Because when the mares get after her, they usually end up biting her butt. Her butt only has a few marks on it.

More pasture leading

On Sunday, we took Griffin out of his pen for the very first time EVER! I was quite leary about what to expect with him, since he is sort of stand-offish and aloof and still gets snorty when people do weird things. But, I worked with him first in the pen, and he's leading very well, much better than the last time (well, leading as best as you can try to get in a 24X24 ft pen). So, we attached a second leadrope to him, and lead him out! Of course, there was a huge hold up when he stalled at his gate. It took lots of backing up, trying over, and then finally, I backed him through his gate, since he was not gonna come forward. Then once he was through, we just stood there in the opening, and took it all in. Then, we set off on our walk. The first 100ft, I felt like I had to pull him quite a bit, but after that, he really loosened up and followed. He was quite alert, but was very calm for this being his first time out. And, he was more than happy to just follow along behind me. He never once spooked or tried to bolt away from me. I never would have expected that. Next time I take him out, I want to try to be more abrupt with him and make him uncomfortable on purpose...just to get a spook out of him. I like it when they at least try a spook, and see that they are attached to me and can't get away. It seems like if they try it right away, then they really don't realize that they could possible get away, so they respect the rope more.

After our walk, he was very calm with me. I almost feel like it gave him a new perspective of me. I plan to make this a regular thing and soon I will take him for long walks outside of the pasture even! I think it will really make him trust me. Griffin has a very sensible nature. He was very calm and seems to think through things before he reacts. His first reaction to something he's uncomfortable with seems to be to stop and think about it, where as Kachina's is, LET'S BOLT NOW!!!! WE CAN LOOK AT IT LATER!!

Then we took Kachina for her second walk along the fenceline. She was very good this time...no spooking at all. I like that she's getting more comfortable. If it hadn't been Sunday afternoon when I finally got around to working with her, I would have turned her loose with Cody, and then played it by ear...but Sunday only a couple hours from darkness...I figured that was a potential recipe for disaster.

But here are some pictures of the furry puny princess (whom I think has grown a little bit!). I didn't take any pictures of Griffin this time because I was too busy watching him. I wasn't sure what to expect with him.

Leading Kachina through the pasture

It is getting closer and closer to the time when we will release the wild ones with the rest of the herd. I am getting more and more apprehensive the closer that time comes! When you've been around horses long enough, you really start to get good at predicting all the possible horrible things that could go wrong on that first introduction to the herd. I see kicking, chasing (not so worried about that), but I'm also worried that they'll get chased through a fence and get hurt or loose!

And to make it worse, I haven't been working with them much, but I did spend and afternoon with Kachina over Thanksgiving break. We did basics (leading in her little pen, desensitizing (with a fleece blanket, wow was that a bit of a rodeo), and brushing and picking up feet. After she was thoroughly wore out with the blanket activities, I had my sig. other come and work her with me. She needs to get used to more strangers and just being comfortable with people. She did very well. He just led her around and petted her on her face and neck. Our ultimate goal was with the two of us, to take her outside her pen and lead her around the entire fenceline. This was to be only her second time outside of her pen since she arrived with us back in May. The first time was during a time when I was working with her quite a bit toward the end of summer. And we never left the sight of her pen.

I just wasn't quite sure what to expect from her, but I thought she might get anxious being out of sight of her pen and other horses. So, to ensure that I could still control her if that happened, we used two leadropes. I was the primary leader, but Todd walked alongside me holding onto the second leadrope just in case we needed it. I REALLY didn't want to take the chance that she might pull away from me.

So, first I removed the 3 tame ones from the pasture and tied them to the hitching post. Then we readied Kachina, opened her pen up (leaving the opening so that if she did get loose, she might have a safe place to retreat to), and then we got started leading her out. She hesitated just a bit with coming through her gate after us, but then she stepped up right behind me, and we began our walk around the fenceline. She was VERY GOOD! For the most part, she was calm, but alert and only breathing slightly faster as she took in the new perspectives. She never once called out for the others, and when they called for her, she didn't hardly notice. She lead extremely well.

We did have two instances where I was glad to have the extra leading helper. The first time, I was leading her diagnally down a rather steep hill, and she thought she take the chance to get ahead of me (I think it was motivated by being lazy and not realizing she needed to slow herself down the hill), but Todd and I were able to pull her around. She did get worried and kept backing up for a bit after we got her facing us, and she might have backed into the fence if she had kept going, but she did stop and all was fine. So then we went back up the hill and came down again. This time she checked herself and was perfect.

The other time, we had gotten to the fence near the road, and Todd's dog was following us along the fenceline. Kachina was worried about him because she hasn't seen him much, and he's a big hairy looking black thing. At that same instance, a motorcycle came down the road. Todd and I got ready to hold her because I knew she was going to spook at it. She did, but settled down quickly after the motorcycle had passed.

So, she was good! For the most part, she was extremely sensible and I think she'll be fine as long as she realizes what a fence is. I see her being turned out with the others very soon. But first I want to let her touch the hotwire while Todd and I are holding onto her so that we can control what happens afterward. Then, I plan to turn her loose with Cody (lead mare) first. Once Cody puts her in her place, I'll let Catlow in with her. Once Catlow is okay with her, then Chico. I anticipate Chico as being the antagonist, but as long as the others are okay with her, he'll chill after he's sure she knows where her place is.

I want more time to work with Griffin before I turn him out with the others because I anticipate him being very difficult to catch when he's loose with them. Plus, I think that it will be a war between him and Chico at first. I might keep Chico out of the herd for a bit until they are established with the more reasonable horses first.

Kachina is out!

Well, not really OUT! But I did actually lead her outside her pen for about 10 minutes today! That was all she could handle! She did really well, but she was breathing really fast and obviously nervous, even though we stayed right next to her pen where surroundings were familiar. She did try to bolt a few times, but it wasn't to get away from me...it was to get away from my dad who was standing in the pasture keeping an eye out for the other horses (making sure they weren't coming in from the outer pasture). We walked a couple of circles around him, and when we'd get to where she felt like he was behind her, she bolted forward, but as soon as she came against the leadrope (which I had a really good hold on and my weight set against her), she came around and faced me and stopped freaking. We just kept walking in circles and changing directions (she's leading so well now!), and she did start to calm down. Then I put her back and she was super relaxed.

I also trimmed her front hooves for the second time. I think they are pretty close to where they should be now. A lot more sole peeled out with this trim and her hooves look nice and concave and I think that we got to the bottom of the furrow between her hoof wall and sole. This time, I was able to give her a full blown grown up horse trim, with the hoof stand and rasp and everything. She's really good about it. I just had to take my time and let her check stuff out and give her breaks before she got tired of standing with her hoof on the stand. She was awesome. I also spent time picking up her back feet, but I'm not asking her to hold them up for very long yet and I have not picked them out. But I think I will very soon. Now that her front feet are normal size (and tiny!), her back feet look terrible. Her and Griffin have feet that are just as overgrown, but her feet are smaller so they don't look as bad as his...but they are.

I also dumped hydrogen peroxide into the furrows on her hooves to try to work on the thrush problem. It hasn't gone away with just trimming, so I think I need to treat it and help it go away. Kachina, the sweety that she is, just lets me dump the foaming bubbling peroxide onto her hooves where it runs all over and fizzles!

Kachina experiences "stranger danger"

I worked with Kachina the other day, and then both Griffin and Kachina a little bit today.

The other day, with Kachina, I worked mostly on getting her to be comfortable with me rubbing her hips and butt. It seemed like every time I got down by her tail, she wanted to step her hind end away from me. So I had to stick with her and pivot with her and keep my hand on her until she stopped moving. I had to do this many times and finally she did stand, but I think it just shows she's not 100% comfortable with me back there yet.

Today, we decided to take the tractor in and scrape out Kachina's pen. Griffin's pen is a little higher up and sloped so the water drains better, but Kachina's pen tends to get very mucky when it rains, and we've had a lot of rain recently. It's impossible to work with her in her pen when it's like that because it is so slippery. So, we just blocked her in the barn, and scraped out her poo pile and all the old matted down hay and muck. Now, when it dries out, it's going to be nice and firm. And her hooves will dry out better.

She took the tractor coming in very well. I was proud of her.

I worked with Griffin right afterward. I didn't really intend to work hard on him, but I had the halter, and I just wanted to catch him and rub him a bit. My aunt was there and my parents, and they all sort of wanted to see what I could do with him, so I ran him briefly through his "paces". Then my dad wanted to touch him, so we worked on "Stranger Danger". My dad did a lot of approach and retreat, while I just stood next to him and talked to him and rubbed him. My dad started by letting him sniff his hand, and then he was able to rub his forehead and walk away before Griffin decided to step back. Griffin was uncomfortable, but he was okay. It was a good lesson. After everyone left, I spent some time scratching his butt and he was very comfortable and happy.

Then I caught Kachina and worked on touching her back end. Then I led her for a bit, but because my dad was watching, she was a bit sticky with leading. I had my dad come in the pen to practice "Stranger Danger". Kachina was pretty worried, but we played with her for a long time. First just sniffing my dad's hand and he'd walk away before she could get too worried. Then he walked around the pen, and Kachina and I followed him. Then she led very well! She wanted to follow me following him. She stayed right on my heels and I hardly had to tug on her at all. So while we followed him around the pen, my dad would stop and turn and let her sniff his hand, then walk away from her again. She was so funny. She definitely got worried, sometimes, but it was cute. I petted and laughed at her while we helped her relax with my dad. Then, I had him squat down, and I sort of led her up to him (back and forth because there was no way she would walk straight up to him), then I turned and squatted down beside him. When I squat, she always lowers her head down to my level and relaxes, and she did this when my dad was sitting there too. So, I kept asking her to drop her head, and my dad would have her sniff him, and I would rub her forehead, and then he tried to rub her forehead (but she'd pop her head up), so I would ask her to lower it again. She was so cute. She wasn't really concerned about my dad there kneeling until he tried to rub her face. Most of the time, she was looking over our heads at something in the yard. He was able to rub her face once without her pulling her head up, so then we were done. When we both stood back up, she became quite worried. It was so funny! Her eyes got all big and the whites showed and she backed up. I stood next to her, my dad asked her to sniff his hand one more time. She did sniff him, then she reached over and bumped my arm to make sure that we were okay...just checking in with me about this scary guy and reassuring herself that we were okay. It was so cute and so flattering! I love it when a horse trusts you enough that they'll touch you with their nose to reassure themselves. That, to me, is the ultimate in trust. And Griffin, did sort of do that today with me, but it was not as obvious or sincerely completely trusting as Kachina was. She's just so sweet. But so flighty!

I procrastinated again! Today was the first time in another 2 days that I worked with the wild ones. I'd like to say I was busy, but really I have no excuse.

I worked with them both today and I played with Griffin first.

Today was the FIRST time that he stood and waited for me in the center of his pen! Usually he moves away and waits in the corner. Today he was in the center! I haltered him right away and he actually sort of tucked his nose to make it into the halter! Then I sprayed him down with fly spray (no jumping at all!). Then I wanted to brush his mane out for the first time, so I showed him the lotion (he smelled it really hard because it actually has a scent), and the brush (quick sniff with no concern), then I proceeded to rub lotion into his mane and forelock and brush it out. He was staying with me so well that after I'd brushed him out, I decided to see what I could touch with the brush in my hand. I found Griffin's itchy spot. The middle of his back. I was able to brush his back, sides, down to his knee on his foreleg, and down his hip to his tail, (with his head tipped toward me). He stood pretty well, and only got worried a few times, but he just backed up so that I was near his head when he couldn't take it anymore. When I hit his itchy spot, he turned his head and tried to groom me, but I just wiggled my arm until he quit trying. He was very with me today. I actually think that he was enjoying my company. It makes me trust him more and act more carefree with him when he is comfortable with me, which helps both of us relax. I also asked him to step toward me with a pull on the halter, and he was getting it pretty well. He's not leading really, but taking steps forward to sideways to pulls on the halter. He's not quite comfortable with me enough yet to officially lead around his pen because his pens is pretty small and that'd require that he be very close to me. Griffin is a very smart horse. Once he learns something, he's got it, and then the next time I work with him, he is even better than he was when I left off previously!

Kachina progresses well, but she's not quite as quick as Griffin. She's still flightier by nature and is likely to run first, think later.

With Kachina today, I haltered her pretty much right away, like always. Kachina does get a little worried when I step into the pen and pick up the halter, so I just stand relaxed in the middle, while she circles me once, then stops at my back. At that point, I just turn around, approach her, rub her face and halter her. Then she's good.

I brushed her whole body with the hairbrush down to her hind hocks. I didn't have as much time with her because it was getting dark, but I worked with picking up her front feet. I'm still leaving the back ones, but they are next. I progressed from just asking her to pick up her foot, to allowing me to hold it up for a bit, and then I went and got a hoof pick and was able to pick out both front feet! She stands very well. Her feet are in terrible shape. She definitely has bad thrush (it smelled awful!), and her hooves are so long. Tomorrow, I am going to try to trim her feet. Her sole is so overgrown too! Once I get her fronts trimmed up, then I will make her back feet a priority to work with. Wish me luck! I've never been the one that gave a wild horse her first trim before!

Today I found myself procrastinating again, but I did get working with them before it got too dark. But, because I procrastinated so long, I didn't work as long as I usually do, but I think that's okay.

Kachina was first. I haltered her right away and brushed her out with a regular old horse brush. She seemed to enjoy it, and I got down to the hocks on her back legs before I backed off...not because she was uncomfortable, but because I'm a big chicken. She was fine. I probably could have brushed all the way to her back hooves, but there's always tomorrow! Might as well not get my head kicked off today.

Then I played with her mouth and picked up her front feet briefly. She's getting better about it on her bad side and she's pretty good on her right side. She was a little sticky with leading today. She just wanted to stand there, but we got unstuck and moved around. I was going to work on her hind feet with a rope, but I decided that I really needed to get over and work with Griffin instead. So I spent time just standing by her head, kissing her on the face, and telling her how much I liked her too. She is so sweet. We whiffle noses all the time. I think the other thing I need to do with her now, is starting acting more crazy around her when I have her on the leadline. I need her to not freak out and want to fly away anytime I do something unusual. I don't tiptoe around her, for the most part, but if I trip, or jump, she does get worried.

I made a lot of progress with Griffin today. I was able to halter him right away without throwing the long rope onto him. I just approached him and let him check out the halter and lead rope for a while, then rubbed his face, and slipped it right on! He was very good. But he, of course, did have that distrustful eye turned on me. I tried to really take my time and give him a ton of breaks where I backed completely away from him and turned away to look at something other than him. It did seem to help, although I caught him trying to withdraw a couple of times while I was out letting him relax, so I jumped quick just to get his attention back on me. That seems to work. He flinches and then just looks at me.

Next, I just approached him, rubbed his face and neck and then walked away many many times. I want him to quit thinking about leaving when I approach. He's really good about respecting the pull on the halter, but I don't want to have to pull him back toward me. I want him to just stay. So we worked on that. And he did stay better by the end. Griffin is very uncomfortable with me anywhere but near his head, so I grabbed my stick and string and decided to touch him all over with that. He'd never seen the stick and string before and it's been a while since I've used the pole on him. He tensed up and flinched the first few times, but other than that was very okay with it. I just rubbed him with the stick first, then I progressed to tossing the string over his back. He's a very brave horse and isn't generally afraid of many things, just me! He calmed down very quickly with the string touching him all over.

Then I decided that I wanted to work on getting him to "lead" or at least give to the halter. He will give his nose, but I have to hold steady pressure for a long time before his feet will follow. I stood to his side and just pulled on the halter until he stepped one front foot toward me. We need to keep working on that. I thought it might help if I could get his feet freed up because he seems very sticky and spurty. When he gets worried, it's a sudden violent leap away, then he stops and looks at me again...which is good, but at the same time, I think he needs to not be so tense and able to move around me more comfortably. So I asked him to move away from me to lunge around his pen. This was very hard to do! He wanted to just stand there! I guess the desensitizing worked! I had to hiss at him and kick dirt at him, and swing my rope very violently to get him to move off (didn't want to hit him with it yet). Then I asked him to stop and face up. We did this many times until he would keep a steady pace instead of trying to stop and face me on his own all the time. I know it seems like a good thing that he wants to face me, but I feel like he is really stuck and NEEDS to move. I think that when he stands still too much, he's not all there with me.

He is definitely getting more comfortable with me rubbing his face though. I figure we'll build on that little by little! The last thing I did was rub him with my hands and try to get further back than his neck. He's okay with the neck and head, and only somewhat okay with the chest. I could rub his withers, and a little bit down his side, and his girth area, but when I got to his forearm, he was definitely not liking it! On his right side, he tucked his butt, sucked back against the fence and really thought about wheeling away from me showing his butt to protect himself! But, he just tucked his butt and really tensed up his body in an arc, showing me what he was about to do, and I backed up a step and rubbed his neck. I went to his forearm and then backed off several times until he quit tensing. Then we were okay. I need more control over his head with the halter before I progress any further back, and even though I can touch him down his legs with my stick, that doesn't mean that I can do it! We'll get there!

At this rate, we should be able to geld him very soon. I don't think the castration is going to do all that much for his personality though. This is who he is. Maybe he'll mellow out, but I don't see him as acting studdy. I see a very self protective horse. Testosterone may or may not exaggerate his self preservation instinct...I don't know. Anyone else have any experience with this? He's two years old. I've never seen him call to my other horses like a stallion does. He nickers to them when he sees them coming in from the pasture, just like any other horse friend would do when they have to stand in a pen all alone all day.

At the end, I slid his halter off, he was calm and I walked away. He stood and watched me as I climbed out over the panels very near him.

Procrastination

I gave the horses another 2 days off. I worked with them today. The time off was sort of intentional. But it was also kind of one of those things where when you feel intimidated or like you just aren't making much progress, you don't want to work on that thing. When I fed both horses on those two days off, they acted very flighty, and I was a little unmotivated after feeling like even though I got a halter on Griffin, he still really just doesn't want to be with me.

But after reading Arlene's post last night, I quit worrying about it and realized that they aren't going to progress at all if I keep coming up with other things to do beside working with them!

So, I got out there and worked with them today! I did Kachina first. I got her haltered pretty quickly today with the halter and leadrope, and she only freaked for one leap when I started to apply fly spray with the spray bottle, and then she stood stock still and didn't move another muscle! I got both sides, down all four legs, and up under her belly. I was very proud of her.

Then I brushed her whole body with my hair brush (she seemed itchy and appreciated it). I was able to brush over her hip and down her butt too. I decided that I needed to really work on getting near her back end today. While brushing her, I had her nose tipped toward me when I was at her butt, although she didn't seem to worry too much...a couple of times she did step away from me and back up so that she was facing me...that's how she feels most comfortable. Then I used my hand and began rubbing down her butt and touching her tail. That sort of worried her a bit, but I just backed off and working within what she was comfortable with and eventually, she was letting me scratch her tail bone and pull her tail out a little bit.

She has rubbed the hair off the head of her tail. She must have an itchy butt. She's definitely due for a worming, so to prepare her for that, I practiced sticking my finger in the corner of her mouth. She really didn't like that and jerked her head away, got a little huffy, and even tried to nip at me when I wouldn't let up. I just released her when she showed the slighted sign of just standing still, and in no time, I could pinch her muzzle softly and lift the corner of her mouth and she was tolerating it. I didn't try to stick my finger in her mouth quite yet.

I led her around the pen for a couple circles. She's leading pretty well. She gets a little bit sticky every once in a while, but she's pretty comfortable being close to me and her nose was touching me for most of the time that I led her around the pen. I'm okay with her being that close for now. I'm still trying to encourage to her be with me.

I also practiced backing her up (which she's getting pretty well from steady pressure on the halter), and dropping her head (this is taking more patience, but she is better at it if I wait till the end of the lesson and crouch down beside her when I ask).

Then I felt down her front legs and practiced picking them up. She's pretty good on her right side and I was able to hold her hoof up very briefly and then set it back down. On her left side, she tends to want to step away from me when I ask her to pick up her foot. But I am pleased that I can feel down her legs and she just stands and doesn't pick her feet up until I pull on her fetlock hair. I didn't get to her back feet, but I will. I'll use the rope first on her back feet. In preparation, I tossed the rope over her butt and let it wrap around her back legs. She was very calm today, and did not once lift a leg to things near her butt.

We had a very calm day. I didn't ask her to run around me and she wanted to be with me right away today. I think breaks do these horses good. I've never actually had them be worse after a break. They always seem better. They haven't forgotten things even though there has been almost a whole week sometimes!

It was the same with Griffin. I was running out of time for him (I was meeting my sister to pick raspberries again). I only had 20 minutes, but I was able to toss my long rope over him, spray him with fly spray (he too only jumped once and then calmly accepted being sprayed), and then halter him with a completely different halter that even had a lead rope attached. He was much calmer today and I was able to rub his face and halter him pretty much immediately! That's all that I did though. I just rubbed his face and neck for a while after I haltered him, then my sister arrived, so I let him go. He stood where I left him and did not even move away when I walked toward him and then climbed over the panels near him. I really shouldn't feel intimidated by progressing slowly with him. I just need to take it one step at a time and really think about those steps.

I think that right now, I just need to get him to allow me to halter him and work around his head. The working near his body, where he is very uncomfortable with me, will come later as he grows more comfortable with everything else.

Here is a conformation shot I took of Griffin the other day. I think he is really nicely built and he is also quite a tall horse (for being only 2). I know his hooves are long, but I'm working on it!

Doing good for having a week off!

It's been almost a week since I've worked with Griffin and Kachina, but I think they remembered their previous lessons...and they might have even missed me! They both seemed fairly eager to approach me when I went down to work with them today.

I was able to halter Kachina with the lead rope attached, without having to toss the big rope coil onto her to get her to stand. I just had to be patient and keep approaching her with it, then eventually rubbing her face, then sliding the halter on. She took it like a pro today! Once haltered, I rubbed her all over, and put fly spray on (she only ran just a bit in the beginning, but then let me spray her whole body on both sides). Then I brushed her mane and forelock out with hair lotion.

Next, I decided to get her used to me scratching her with my training stick with string attached. I'd like to work to feeling comfortable handling her back end, and I decided that using the stick to reach her for now would be the way to go. I know she'll be less comfortable with objects than with me, so if I get her used to the objects touching her back there, then she should accept me pretty well. She took the stick pretty well, but did tuck her butt the first time I rubbed her there. She also did pick up one foot a couple times and kick out halfheartedly with it, but she quit when I just kept at it. She didn't necessarily like the stick touching her back legs, but she tolerated it. She did tense up at first when I started touching her with the new stick, but she got over it fast, and she didn't run!

Then I tossed the string over her back repeatedly to desensitize her to having something thrown at her. She did think about running around me, but actually took this surprisingly well, considering her reaction to me throwing the big rope at her. Perhaps the big rope didn't scare her as much as I'd thought! I basically kept at the tossing at her until she licked her lips and relaxed. She was a little tense at first, but I was able to do her whole topline, and around her back and front legs, and she just stood. She really did relax after a while and didn't even flinch when I missed with the rope and hit her in the side instead of getting it over her back!

After that, I spent more time rubbing her with my hands over her hips and under her belly. I'm too chicken to go down her back legs yet. I'll work them with a rope first before we get there. She's not completely comfortable with me toward her butt yet. Then I rubbed down her front legs and asked her to pick up a foot when I pulled on her fetlock hair. I just got her to pick up the foot so far. I'm not asking her to let me hold it. She's getting better at that...she does take a little bit of time with me waiting while I pull on her hair before she'll pick up her foot. I sure do like mustang's fetlock hair...it makes a great handle for hoof handling!

She's leading pretty well now, too.

It's hard to get pictures of a horse that won't stand where you leave them and keeps following you around! I think Kachina has gained quite a bit of weight now that she's not putting so much energy into fighting an illness!







After that, I called it a night with Kachina and moved to Griffin.

I was pleased that Griffin seemed to want to approach me.



His abscess is all healed up and the swelling is gone.


He sniffed me pretty comfortably, but when I went to scratch his neck and face, he moved off, so I got him moving and then got the rope on him again.


Once I had the rope on, I was able to apply fly spray with the spray bottle! He did get worried at first, but I just kept at it and rewarded him the second he thought about standing still. And in just a couple attempts, he stood still and I applied it to his whole body!

He is definitely only tolerating me being with him. I think I might be overwhelming him...he is almost shutting off when I back away from him to give him a break. Instead of relaxing and licking his lips, he often starts blinking his eyes like he's falling asleep, but what he's really doing is blocking me out, I think. So a couple of times, I just did a really fast jump to startle him back to the world, and that caused him to freak for a second, then lick his lips. So, I think I must be pushing him to hard when he's got the rope on - he can't escape from me, so he's almost shutting off, but not quite. I'm going to have to do some more thinking about how to approach that. I don't think I'm moving to fast because he's taking things well, but something about when I have the rope on him...I must just not be giving him enough complete breaks where I back completely off and ignore him. I think I'm just backing up and staring at him, so he's still in the "hot-seat". I'll have to change that...

However, we did progress to him letting me rub his face with two hands and also with the halter (that's first!). Prior to this, I'd never even attempted to touch him with the halter. I was also able to rub his neck with it. He seemed pretty relaxed about me rubbing his face and breathing into his nose by the end. I left it at that. I was able to pull the rope off his head over his ears with my hand without causing him to move away too!

Griffin is very uncomfortable with me anywhere but up by his head, so I'll work with that, and get him comfortable letting me halter him, and we'll slowly move back. I really, really want to get him gelded soon. Perhaps as soon as I get him handled up front, I can get the vet out and we can work out a squeeze chute to administer the anesthetic.

Spring – Summer 2007, Catlow’s walks

Earlier this year, before I had ridden Chico yet, Catlow had a very bad training experience. Prior to this event, I had not worked with her very much at all. I think that it definitely did not help what I was trying to accomplish with her, and may have made it take longer to get her trust, although it was her nature to be suspicious and closed off before this. This event probably made her worse, but I hadn’t worked with her much before this. Ultimately it did not ruin her (thankfully). I’ve really debated posting this on the internet for the world to see, but I really doubt that the people involved will ever read my blog so I don’t think posting this is going to cause any conflicts, so here goes.

Like I’d mentioned previously, I was sometimes working with getting Catlow to lead better, and also halter easily, but not very often (I was busy with Chico). I had gotten Chico to the point where I was ponying him from Cody all tacked up. On this particular day, I was going riding with 3 other people (won’t mention names). I was on Cody, leading Chico. As we left the barn and were headed down the driveway, Catlow was standing with her head over the gate watching us. Jokingly, I said “Oh look, Catlow wants to come with us!” Person 1 said, “That’s a great idea!” And proceeded to jump off her horse, run in the barn and get a leadrope on Catlow. I sat watching, not really knowing what to do, but I didn’t think it was a very good idea because Catlow did not lead very well, so why would it be a good idea to “lead” her off the property, which she’d never done before? But Person 1 is very opinionated and does things her way, and I didn’t feel comfortable telling her so. Person 1 got back on her horse and started down the driveway “leading” Catlow. Catlow set back, so Person 1 wrapped the leadrope around her saddle horn to pull Catlow. So Catlow led up, but still didn’t know what was expected of her, so she sped up and now was “leading” Person 1 on her horse. Person 1 tried to pull Catlow back to a following position, but Catlow just had her head up and kept pulling through her. Person 1 kept circling her horse around trying to get Catlow back behind her, but as soon as she did, Catlow would speed up and be pulling her again. Person 1 was jerking and pulling as hard and she could, and was losing her temper. We were still in front of the barn having not been able to make it anywhere. I said (in my timid voice), “I don’t think she’s ready to take out with us”. Person 1 said, “Well, we can’t let her win now! We have to finish what we started!” Person 1 ran into the barn and grabbed a chain and put it on Catlow’s halter. Now, Person 1 was on her horse, trying to get Catlow to back up, WHILE they were IN the barn standing in front of the panels. Person 1 JERKED as hard as she could on the chain across Catlow’s nose. Catlow reared up striking and hit the panels with her front feet. Person 1 JERKED again, Catlow reared striking again. And again. Meanwhile, I’m kind of dumbstruck, and very upset. There wasn’t much I could do, since I was holding 2 horses (Cody and Chico), but I ran down to the house, leading them and pounded on the door until Todd came out. I said, “Todd, you have to come get your horse!” I knew he would not agree with what was happening. He came running out to get her. By this time Person 1 had gotten Catlow out of the barn and was “leading” her down the driveway past the house…looked the same as before, except that with the chain across Catlow’s nose, she had more leverage to pull her back. As soon as Person 1 saw Todd, she lost her temper, yelling at him…I can’t remember what she said exactly, something about cursing the mustang and blaming her on Todd, but Todd was upset, so turned away and stormed back into the house, leaving his horse still in the hands of Person 1. By this point, Catlow was kind of leading up, but hesitantly and still pulling and getting jerked back every time she pulled. Person 1, along with the others we were riding with headed out the driveway with Catlow. I followed on Cody, leading Chico. We got to the middle of the CRP field across the road from the property, when suddenly, Catlow caught Person 1 off guard and pulled away from her. Now we had a mustang, who didn’t readily let people approach her even in the pasture, loose in the CRP field next to the canyon. I got off Cody and stood holding her and Chico, while Person 1 and 2 tried to chase Catlow down. Person 2 was going to try to rope her. Catlow was avoiding them and at one point ran to Cody and Chico and stood next to them. I tried to slowly approach her and get a hold on her lead rope, but she sidled away. Then Person 1 and 2 came and Catlow was off again galloping across the field. Meanwhile, Person 3 was having trouble with his ill-behaved horse with all these other horses racing around the field. I stayed where I was holding Chico and Cody hoping that she’d come back to them. After about 20 minutes of chasing her, they finally roped Catlow. Then we headed back to the barn. Amazingly, Catlow led pretty well with the rope around her neck. They got her back in the pasture without further incident. It still makes me very upset to think about this (I’m currently shivering and sweating at the same time). I was so mad, but I couldn’t say anything to Person 1; she’d already made her opinion perfectly clear. I thought that as soon as she discovered that Catlow wasn’t going to lead up easily, we needed to step back and readjust our goals. Catlow didn’t lead well anyway, so simply getting her to lead around, then putting her back in the pasture would have been sufficient. Why did that big goal of taking her out ponying off other horses on a trail ride have to be accomplished in order to “win” the battle with her? We didn’t end up “winning” anything. Catlow wasn’t being stubborn and fighting with them; she didn’t understand what was happening, and when Person 1 jerked her face with a chain, she just defended herself the best she knew how, by rearing and striking. Person 1 is very lucky that Catlow didn’t accidentally knock her off her horse when she was jerking on the leadrope. So, this was Catlow’s big negative training event.

A few weeks after that, I decided that I should start working with getting her to lead better. I started in the round pen, then I started taking her out for walks. This was in Spring 2007, Chico had already been out on many walks and was very comfortable with me. The first time I took Catlow out, Todd and I just took Catlow and Chico for a walk across the nearby CRP field. As soon as we got out the driveway, Catlow was on edge. She was no longer on familiar turf, and was NOT comfortable, even though she was with Chico. She was stiff and would not bend, and was walking VERY fast and getting ahead of first Todd, then me when I took over (kind of like what she did to Person 1 when she was trying to pony her). When she’d get in front, I just turned and made her walk a circle until she was behind me again, then we’d continue straight again. She was very stiff, so her turns were more like pivots and she almost stepped on me a few times as I tried to circle her. We got to a pond, and some ducks flew up and she came unglued. She spooked and jumped back, and after that, she was even more nervous. We headed home after that and as soon as we got back on the property, she was calm and relaxed.

The next time I took her out, I led her alone. She was nervous through the field, but once we got to the woods, she was much better. She wasn’t calm, but I think that she wasn’t overwhelmed with trying to look EVERYWHERE, because she could only see around her immediate self and so was better. I was pleased with how she did in the woods. We went down some very steep hills and cut across country off trails and she was very surefooted.

I took her out several more times with friends leading either Cody, or Chico or both Cody and Chico. When Cody was around, Catlow was much more relaxed. When I took all three out as a herd, Catlow was the best behaved horse of the three. She did not try to snatch grass as much as Cody and Chico did, and if you pulled on her halter, she’d immediately respond to the pressure. Whereas Cody and Chico knew they could push it and if they had their face buried in grass, when you pulled, they pulled back to try to snatch those last few mouthfuls. I actually had my least experienced (with horses) friend lead Catlow because she had become frustrated with Cody eating constantly. When I took over Cody, I got after her firmly and neither Chico nor Cody would eat while I led them.

In these leading lessons, Catlow did become somewhat familiar with the canyon. I could lead her down this way and she was quite relaxed, but if I led her down the road through open fields that went by the neighbor’s horses, she would become high-headed, alert, and forget I was there leading her. Once again though, after we passed that stretch and got into the woods on a single track trail, she’d follow behind me with her head down rather relaxed. That’s about as far as I got with Catlow that summer.