After my last update I trailered Odin for a short jaunt "around the block", which is maybe 5 or 6 minutes. Even after that brief time on the road, he was lathered in sweat. Time for some help because I'm only partially getting his training right.
My favorite trainer, Meghan Valenti, recently had a little time in her schedule to come over and give me a lesson. Usually I have my horse ready to go when starting a lesson but I wanted her to see the beginning to identify any holes in my training process. Plus she needed to meet my new little stinker, Bragi the Mustang, a 2-year old Warm Springs Mustang who arrived in March.
When I haltered Odin, an 8-year old Cold Springs Mustang, and started walking from the barn to the front where the trailer is parked Meghan noticed that Odin was already checking out, looking around. Aha! That's a big thing that I have missed because we get from the barn to the front several times a week and I'm frequently thinking about something and not noticing that he's not paying very much attention to me.
Immediately I got a refresher in ground work, which is fun because you get to play sneaky little games, like if you're looking over there, Odin, I get to tag your booty! Oop! What a surprise! My booty's been tagged! He does it again and I get to tag it again. This is fun! Except he starts noticing when I sneak sideways to tag his booty and pays attention to me. Ding ding ding! Winner! Can't get away with that anymore because he's watching me. This little 5-minute game involved tag, no pulling, no shaking the leadrope, no whacking with my stick. Just simple little playground tag.
Up the drive we go toward the trailer. Odin puts his head in the air like a giraffe. Obviously he's worried. Meghan takes him to get a feel. He leans into her with his shoulder, she asks him to get out of her space. This is an important safety measure because while he would not intentionally hurt her, if he gets scared he may be looking at whatever is scaring him and run over his handler. That's why we insist on safe space so we have an opportunity to get out of the way if necessary.
Odin gets offended when Meghan asks him to respect her space, tosses his head, backs up, squirts sideways and generally demonstrates he has forgotten all of his manners. This is when Meghan tells me that I need to be more bossy because I let him invade my space (to a point) all the time, which is why he's a little emotional about the correction. I doubt anyone has ever advised me to be more bossy. My parents would say that I was born bossy. My sister would likely agree. As an adult, I don't like to think of myself as bossy but perhaps confident, assertive, and fairly clear on what I want to do.
Except I'm not that way with my animals because I wuv them and their velvety noses and soft eyes and I want them to be near me all the time. Sometimes you have to mean business when introducing animals to an uncomfortable task for the sake of safety and leadership. And that's what Meghan's advice meant.
She started with a little groundwork near the trailer to establish connection and direction. Odin got himself worked up emotionally and started trotting around. Meghan let him work out that no one asked him to trot and he's free to walk when he gets his brain back. She explained how he needed emotional control in order to feel comfortable in the trailer eventually and she was there to help him figure out how to get back to calm by establishing a few rules, asking him to pay attention to her, and make choices. Go in the trailer? Ok great! No, not comfortable yet? That's fine, we can do a little groundwork, get our brains back and try again.
To be clear the groundwork is not punishment. Groundwork is to achieve connection, focus, and establish a few ground rules for safety. It is also for a little exercise. If Odin wants to back out of the trailer, that's fine, we can practice a few other things. He makes two or three circles at the walk or trot, changes direction for a couple circles then is offered the trailer again. We are not running him around, making him go fast for a long time.
By the end of that session, Odin was getting in the trailer for me and waiting a second for me to back him out.
Since that day we have practiced a few more times: invite Odin into the trailer, hang out for a second or two. If he says no and backs out, he does a couple circles near the trailer and tries again. His circles and upward and downward transitions are looking good: he's soft and round rather than frantic with his head and tail in the air. And he's beginning to change his mind about the trailer. Maybe he can trust me when I ask him to load and he can wait until I ask him to unload.
The other day during our practice Odin was willing to wait inside the trailer, so I shut the divider, shut the door, and drove the circle around the driveway. I expected him to be anxious about getting out but he wasn't; he waited for me to back him out. That was a major win, a clear shift in his thinking.
Hopefully short road trips are in our near future.