Yesterday was a day of straightforward run of the mill successfully uneventful horse training! The goal was simple: take a horse that had fairly limited experience with me, build on the trust relationship we’ve been establishing, and introduce medieval weapons… a rattan sword and a 12 foot lance… both for the record are very blunt 1-inch minimum rounded edges… to the equation and get her to calmly accept their presence. Uneventful was the goal! And uneventful is what I got!

Here’s how…

Ally has an awesome foundation in natural horsemanship. Rock solid foundation. I took the extra time yesterday to take advantage of that fact and stack the deck in my favor from the get-go.

Beginning with leading out of the pasture with calm presence of authority, I took the time to very pleasantly do a thourough job playing friendly with various grooming supplies and tools, ensuring a happy, well scratched and contented horse entered the round pen.

I spent time starting at square zero with the lead rope over all quarters of the body. I ran the rope around legs, etc etc; and did the same with a carrot stick. All quarters, all angles, rubbing with the stick, and tracing with the rope. At convenient points she was clicked and rewarded for calmness.

After Id exhausted the possibilities of friendly, I ran a couple cues to make sure she responded to pressure and cues, trotted her once around each way to break up the boredom, and set about the real task: weapons training.

I started off just holding the sword in front of her until she sniffed at it. After we had that calmy accepted and rewarded, we just rubbed along all parts of the body and neck gently and friendly, just like the carrot stick. After that, waving the sword back and forth, up and down, slowly by her face. Click! Reward! We’re done here!

The lance was a bit more scary and difficult… but only like walking into a light breeze. It -is- 12 feet long, and may in fact be the first large stick shes seen not firmly in the ground with leaves. I held it vertically for control and weight, about 6 inches away from her.  She moved away at first, but I just followed with the lance until she stopped and rewarded the calm. Soon thereafter, I was rubbing the 12 foot lance everywhere on all quarters and down both sides. Rewards galore!

We finished up with a brief, in-hand introduction to the quintain. No reaction at all, even when the wind pushed the shield against her nose. Our last little bit was an in-hand walk through the reeds and on the correct pathing for the heads games.

Praises galore!!!

That was a fine time to leave well enough alone and so we wrapped up the day with radical success… a radical success built by careful planning, encouragement, and solid foundational work setting the correct tone for trust, communications, and learning.

9 days left until showtime. And I hope to continue applying the principles of horsemanship in a careful and accurate manner to achieve not only the short term goal.. Siege of Glengary… but also the long term goal of educating the horse to implicitly trust the human!

Until next time!

Mark

The challenge: To put a flymask on a horse who is not halter-trained and is known to be headshy.

The solution: Clicker Training to the rescue!

Crockett is an Appy gelding, part of the PMU rescue herd we are currently helping with. His pale face and light skin require protection from sunburn and the torment of flies.  A long-nose flymask is a simple solution, but Crockett was headshy and unhalterable.  I clipped on my treat bag and began.

The scene unfolded like clockwork.  Crockett’s pasturemates, Gypsy and Betty, abandoned us for the comfort and shade of the loafing shed. No worries about other horses mugging us for treats!

Crockett immediately conncted the audible “click” with the treat that followed.  We began racing forward one baby step at a time. I held out the mask. After a minute he checked it out with his muzzle. Click! After several successful repetitions I upped the standard. It was no longer enough just to touch the mask. He got a little frustrated and tossed his head-and happened to rub his head from his eyes to his muzzle along the mask. Click!

We continued on in this fashion. Solidify a step. Add another level of trust. Before too long the mask was on- and so ill-fitting! Off came the mask and I tried another one. Baby steps again, and a few minutes later the new mask was on. Sigh-too small. I rummaged around in the barn and found a few more masks to try.

This glitch was not a frustration, but an opportunity for reinforcement.  Each successful masking solidified both my newfound communication with Crockett and his victory over being headshy.  I found a mask that fit a little better and sent him off into the herd.

When I finished my sessions with Gyspy and Betty, I walked out to visit with the others. Crockett saw me, pricked up his ears, and threaded his way through his pasture mates to join me. I call that a double success!

This is one such success.

A week or two ago we had a cold, bitter storm blow in from the Arctic. Caught by surprise by the cold pellets stinging our faces, and the 20 degree, gale force winds howling around us, we set out in the dark to blanket the few remaining horses who still needed the added protection from the fury of elements. With wind chills in the low zeros, blankets were not a request, they were a requirement. Our yearling Friesian-cross did not agree.

Spotteigh, usually calm, compliant, and friendly, had only worn a blanket once in his life… on a calm day at that. This night of all nights, the blanket seemed to have a life of it’s own as it blew around in Kirsten’s arms. The blanket for pasturemate D’Art was laying on the ground and moving of its own accord.

You could see it in Spotteigh’s eyes: “It’s gonna EAT ME!!!” That’s one of those moments where either all your training clicks together or you or someone else gets trampled. Short lead in hand, we danced in circles until he calmed down enough to try again. And try we did…

We have this little secret we’ll share with you! From the moment one of our horses sets hoof on the farm, we instill in them clicker-training. A bridge signal (in this case a ‘click’ sound) marks a behavior as desired… an implicit yes that says “You’re doing things right!” A click is always rewarded with a healthy tasty little snack treat. Think the trained Orcas at Sea World.

Face and hands going numb in the cold, we began the process of introducing Spotteigh to the blanket… the moving, scary looking mass that would give him warmth if he could trust it. Sniff…click… reward. Touch… click…reward. Touch on side… click…reward.

Each step was building on the success of the previous step until the surcingles were buckled and the front straps closed… and we were back in the truck thawing out.

All with the power of a click and a pocketful of hay stretcher!

I love all the posts that include training with treats! Do you know they actually funded a study in France which “scientifically proved” that horses learn faster when they receive food rewards? Hahaha, horsemen since the dawn of time could have told them that!

My tip brings even more impact to the power of treats. When a new horse first comes to the farm, we teach them a “bridge signal.” They learn to associate a clicking sound with a treat. More importantly they learn that whatever they are doing at the exact moment of the click is what they are getting rewarded for. This way, we can reward them “in the moment” no matter how far out of carrot range they are (great for liberty training or speed work.)

This has infinite applications! We have taught a horse who hated having his feet handled to stand in a bucket of warm water and epsom salts to soak out an abcess. We have taught rowdy youngster to quietly hold their hooves on a hoof stand so one person can trim their feet without needing a second handler. We made horses who refused to be dewormed look forward to the dewormer. We have taught flying lead changes to an off the track TB who would only take one lead, and curiosity and courage to a “chicken-heart” who spooked at anything and everything. The list is endless!

The photo shows a recent– and FUN–success. The mare in the photo is an off the track TB. We brought her to a medieval equestrian reenactment. In no time she accepted the flowing, jingling costumes, the swords and lances swinging around her head, the loud cracks of impact and flying targets–all through the power of associating the click for the right behavior with the treat that says “well done!”

Check out the contest and vote for our tip!

Laura was ready first. we played a couple of games with bending poles and pick-up cones waiting for the others. Lucy settled right in with the strange horses to give her nicest canters ever and even show off a little in the games. At around 16.2 hands, Lucy towers over the family’s Quarter Horses. Her long and floating strides made the arena seem small.

Everyone assembled, made sure their breaks and steering worked, and checked their girths a final time. I hung the camera off my saddle.

Love, dedication and natural horsemanship laid the foundation. Autumn’s glory set the stage. Let the Dream unfold!

“Ready to Ride!” The Knock family and Lucy. I’m on Lucy’s back, shooting the picture.

Straight from Lord of the Rings,”The Old Man in the Tree” looks like one of Tolkein’s Ents

We pass the guys assembling a new chicken coop in the back field- and see another kind of Deere.

“Do they know what they’re doing?” June seems to ask.

…Now to find a husband horse for Dad!

Stormy the been-there-done-that school horse joined the family.  The flashy but fiery Tommy “followed them home” from a horse sale and left later, much better behaved but still too exuberent to trust to a family trail ride.  Saintly Molly the Mule looked to be the perfect husband horse but a vicious, aggressive tumor took her all too soon.

Through it all, Christa persevered with Ebony, the original QH filly.  Natural horsemanship techniques built her confidence and her skills in both the English and Western disciplines.  Clicker training gave her a “why” (release of pressure, “good girl” and a scritch weren’t motivation enough for her deeply introverted personality).  Christa’s horsemanship and equitation blossomed.  When we realized according to an arbitrary rule that Ebony would need to wear a curb bit and do flying lead changes (neither of which she was ready for) to show in the next Western division, we quickly taught both horse and teenager the basics of hunt seat and jumping and sent them to clean up in the English arena.

Christa and the younger Laura (matched with ever-reliable Stormy) dominated the local show circuit.  Mom Kathy tested and expanded her horsemanship with Tommy  and Molly.  Dad joined in for field trips to horse expos and Parelli Tour Stops, but “Family trail ride” lingered untouched on the goal list.

June joined the family this summer.  Not the perfect pleasure mount, but she and Kathy clicked. Extra training sessions brought her along quickly.  Most importantly, Kathy’s confidence soared.  After all this time supporting her daughters and diligently taking lessons, she had a trustworthy horse “of her own!”

At last, the stage was set for the dream to come true.

Our friends in a neighboring kingdom hosted an SCA medieval equestrian practice. We jumped at the opportunity to play our favorite medieval horsemanship games with great people while increasing our horses’ competencies. We love win-win-win!

Our horses faced new places, new horses, and new challenges…even new outfits! Natural horsemanship laid a solid foundation for acceptance and quick mastery of new experiences. Clicker training accelerated the horses’ comfort level with flailing swords, bobbing lances and billowing costumes.

Lucy, of course, took it all in stride:

Now what made that training session extraordinary in my mind was this: through no fault of her own, Stormy’s training has been backburnered since summer.

I pulled her out of the field just before evening feeding on a whim. After a hectic week, I really just wanted a little time to BE with a horse, no pressure, no outside expectations. Under a glorious sunset, Stormy and I remembered the dance together.

Start with the basics. Are the fundamental communications in place? Yield the shoulder, tip the hip, glide backwards on the lightest cue.  Click.  Treat.  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

Slip off the halter. Pat Parelli says “when you set your horse loose, you’re left with the truth.” Stormy’s truth was empowering indeed. Canter left. Stop on a dime. Canter right, dancing across the crackly tarp.

The sky blazed purple and gold. I pulled out tack. I was going way further than I’d planned, at Stormy’s own invitation. Saddle and bridle, no problem. Long lines came next. I’d only long lined her a few times before her extended hiatus.

I had no need to worry. Stormy trotted off cheerfully, then responded when I asked for sweeping turns across the round pen. The original horsepower- “almost like driving a ferrari” I tell her!

Off came the tack.  We’d completed the circle.  I  showered Stormy in gratitude as I set her loose in her darkening field.

What a ride we had! The sudden crispness in the air out Dolly on edge. Natural horse training methods put a variety of tools in our mental tack trunk to quickly engage her mind and her movement. Clicker training speeds the process and enhances results even more.

Gideon, on the other hand, sauntered off the trailer and down the trail like the pro he is rapidly becoming. Suzi was out of town, but Phyllis joined us riding Cricket.

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer ride! The beautifully mown trails meandered through thick forest. The horses wound through the trees and scaled strength-building hills.

New experiences in new places builds precious confidence in our young horses. Today’s gorgeous scenery kept us humans oohing and ahhing and thoroughly enjoying every new twist in the trail! We got to see Cricket doing what she does best: happily moving down the trail and showing the less experienced horses how it’s done. Cricket has enjoyed success in the horse show ring, but truly loves the trails. We’re excited to welcome her into the family!

We gave Phyllis a thank-you bottle of Monavie. Monavie gave Mark and I relief from the constant pain of back issues, overuse, and old injuries. We feel Monavie is the biggest gift we can share!

Tomorrow I’ll post Cricket’s pedigree and pictures. Tonight she grazes peacefully under a full autumn moon.

The groundskeeper appeared and started shaking new garbage cans into the metal barrels around the ring. Gideon ignored the commotion and gave his most balanced canter yet.

By this time I was getting a little concerned. We still had the showgrounds to ourselves! I introduced myself to the groundskeeper and asked if we had the right weekend. He replied, just as puzzled, “yep, today’s the day of the horse show. They’ve usually started by now!”

There’s no such thing as a no-show. Clearly it was a We-Show! We were there…with a trailer full of promising young horses to school! And school we did, making full use of every opportunity we could create. Angus and then Lucy had their training sessions in the arena. Monavie kept my blood sugar level and my energy up as the heat and humidity skyrocketed.

Eventually another couple arrived with a lovely, half-Connemara yearling out for her first show exposure. We watched from a distance as the power of natural horsemanship –or lack thereof– became clearer and clearer. The filly’s handler held her tightly on a chain shank and walked her in small circles. The filly just got more and more wound up.

Natural horsemanship offers a toolbox to access when trouble kicks up. With a few basic communications in place, that filly could be handled in a way that would help her find harmony with her handlers and her surroundings. Her nervous energy could be channeled in a positive direction.  Instead, her frustration level mounted, along with her misbehavior.

A few more trailers pulled in with well-dressed riders. Cell phones hummed, new shows were found and the tiny crowd dispersed. We finally learned that the horse show had been cancelled earlier that week due to hurricane warnings, but no one bothered to tell the public!

No worries! Our horses were unloaded, hosed off and grazing in their pastures before worst of the day’s heat, after a thoroughly successful we-show horse show!