Yesterday I spent time with both horses. I’d had a riding lesson on Odin the Mustang the previous day and we worked a lot on transitions, mostly to give him the idea of going forward with the lightest of signals: cluck and maybe a tap on his sides with the backs of my calves. Just a tap, no more. He got the idea pretty quickly so we were able to work on turns on the forehand and haunches, which will help with steering. After that he got sticky, i.e. not moving forward with enthusiasm, again so we had a short reminder session that cluck and tap means forward. He remembered and that was the end of the lesson.
These types of transitions work the haunches of a horse. Horses naturally carry themselves on their forehand, which suits them just fine in everyday life. However, riding and performance requires horses to find their balance by using more of their haunches, which requires incremental training and maybe a sore booty at the end of the day.
Yesterday we worked again on trailer loading and hauling a short distance. Odin asks a lot of questions: do I have to? can I do it this way? Ok I’m in but do I have to stay? What if I want to turn around and leave frontwards rather than backing out? You untied the rope, can I leave NOW? In response, I tell him he has to do it this way. It’s for your safety and mine too. You have to wait for me to tell you can leave. Again, it’s for your safety and mine.
Once those questions are answered he loads fine but he still doesn’t like the drive around the block. He was sweaty after I let him out so I did a short ride to cool him out. We walked the perimeter trail of the property, which has crunchy leaves, suspicious blackberry vines hanging into the trail, a dead stick to snort at (did he think it was a snake?) and avenues to get back to his pasture. Every time we passed one of those avenues, he asked if we could go that way, back to his pen. No, we will continue our route to work on your confidence and continue to cool out. Again, this is for your health and well being. We walked mostly around the property but then a farmhand got out the leaf blower. That was too much for me so I got off and we walked the short distance back to the barn. Odin was cool enough to go out to pasture by then, which he happily did.
Then I went to see Beege. I walked to the pasture gate and Beege walked all the way from the far end of the pasture to greet me. I don’t spend much time with him since he’s retired and an excitable Thoroughbred. I don’t want to agitate his arthritis or his brain because it’s hard to get him to let go of his anxiety once we’ve crossed that line so we keep sessions very short. Sometimes that’s not enough for him and I can tell he wants more. Mostly I clicker train him at liberty. We do this little dance: come to me, back up, pick up your feet when I ask, follow me, stop, go right, come to me, back up, touch the flag or plastic bag with your nose. It’s hard to tell him that we’re done because he wants to follow me and do more. I’m working on the signal to stop, which I think will be the back up and stay signal. My preference would be to pet him and love on him a bit before I go but that confuses him so I have to get the petting and scratching done first otherwise he will think there’s more to follow.
I love Beege’s enthusiasm. I wish he was as sound and sensible as Odin. I wish Odin was as motivated as Beege. Maybe he will be in time and ultimately I hope that Beege stays this interested for a good long time.