The official transfer of ownership of Bragi the Mustang from the Bureau of Land Management to me:
Caveat: I’m not a horse trainer. I now own two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Mustangs and subscribe to the idea that every time I’m them I’m either training or untraining them. Both of my boys came from skilled trainers who know how to gently introduce them to the ways of humans. Odin had 100 days of training and was just under saddle by the time I bought him. Bragi had about 30 days of training and barely tolerated wearing a halter. Now he’s seen the vet without losing his mind and I’m working on the idea of bathing and saddling.
More on bathing and saddling in a minute.
Before owning Mustangs, it never occured to me to think about the things we ask them to do from their point of view. For instance, when I got Odin a few years ago he had his first farrier appointment to trim his feet. When the farrier kindly asked him to pick up his foot, Odin seemed truly puzzled. It was as if he asked “why in the world would you want to hold my foot? That seems absurd!”
My farriers are awesome, patient, intelligent horsemen (gender neutral form of the word as my farriers are women). They gently persuaded Odin to pick up his foot and and allow them to hold it. Odin wasn’t alarmed by the request but just thought it was weird.
Looking back at the moment, I agree with him. We ask horses to do weird things, hopefully for their own health and safety so they can live in this human environment and thrive. Why adopt wild horses in the first place? That’s a whole other discussion but you may find information here. Both my boys enjoy regular, quality feed plus water whenever they’re thirsty. That’s not so easy in the wild.
Back to the idea of bathing and saddling Bragi. Bragi has an itchy tummy as he’s allergic to a common biting insect. Fly spray offers some protection but the saliva from the biting fly lingers and makes him itch. Ideally I will be able to bathe at least his tummy to remove that saliva offer relief.
Bragi doesn’t seem to mind the hose as much as Odin does. Odin acts like spray from water is acid on his skin. This morning I introduced a rag to Bragi. He didn’t mind at all. Some horses will shy away from a rag simply because they haven’t seen it before. He let me rub his shoulder and neck with it, ball it up and scratch his tummy, then flop it over his back as if it were a saddle pad. Tada!
The key to training horses is introducing new things to them kindly, patiently, and at the speed they are ready. If Bragi had jumped away from the rag, I would’ve backed up and introduced it to him from much farther away then approached him if he didn’t react. Then repeat. Ad nauseam.
So much patience & love! Good for you, Corrina!
“The key to training horses is introducing new things to them kindly, patiently, and at the speed they are ready. ”
I think that is the key to training humans, too!
Including adult humans who are learning new things.
Yes, isn’t that amazing?!
I have learned that too, basically from trying to communicate with creatures who have a very different way of communicating!
How often do you normally have to bathe Odin? and is it different in the winter than in summer? I guess they do not really groom themselves like cats do. Just curious.
I really don’t bathe my horses unless I have to as I think it’s better for their skin to avoid shampooing them very often. Bathing is a good skill for horses to learn though, in case you need to tend to a wound or if it’s really hot it’s nice to rinse them off.