I found out what Kai is afraid of.
If you read my last training post, remember I said that today's session would be sacking him out, to try to discover what sets him off. I've been having trouble saddling him, so I needed to find out why.
My arsenal today included a towel, a feed bag on a stick, a lariat, and a stick and sting.
You'd think the scariest thing would be the white feed bag on the string, but it wasn't.
First off I started simple- a towel, rubbing him with it, flipping it up on his back, around his legs, over his head, flapping it vigorously beside him. He pretty much took it in stride.
Yeeeeaaaah not so scary.
Next item of torture was the feed bag. I figured for sure he'd get all worried with this one!
Mmmm smells like oats!
I worked with this for a bit, and really was happy with how he did, even with the wind flapping it around and all he handled it quite well.
After that, I moved on to the lariat. A little more concerned, but Kai didn't take flight at first. I rubbed it on him, hung it off his head,
and picked up a loop and flipped it over and around him; laid it on his butt and then he moved out- not too scared seeming, just not sure what he should do.
A couple of rounds and he was ok. I swung it over my head and he was fine until it made "that" noise- the whirr of a rope in action. I stopped that and went back to flipping it around him until he stood still.
Then it was stick and string time....
and a whole different story emerged.
I started out just showing it to him, and he was immediately on guard. He did let me rub it all over him, but wasn't nearly as relaxed as with the other items.
When I started flipping it up on him he took off, and what I did was just hold the rope, let him go around and keep the stick in the same position it was when he took off. When he stopped, I lowered it. I backed off on the pressure a bit just to see what he could handle. If I had the stick pointed at the ground, and just wiggled the rope, he tolerated it but was wary. If I led him and had my back to him and flipped the rope from side to side as I walked, he tolerated it. But if I whipped the rope in any direction ( I never whipped it at him at all) and it made that whistling noise, he lost it. Around and around, with his head up over the rail as though he was looking for a way out.
Once he worked off some of that nervousness and was willing to trust me a little, I brought him in closer and worked within his limits. I'd shake the string, and he'd move his feet, and as soon as he stopped moving, I'd stop what I was doing. I managed to get a very short video of that just before my camera ran out of battery.
By then there was a thunderstorm rolling in, and we had been working for about an hour, so I didn't bother with my plan of saddling him- that can wait for another day. What I want now is to build his confidence in me. I think he must have had a bad experience with a whip somewhere along the line that taught him this fear. By the end of our session, he was licking and chewing, and coming right close to me instead of leaving. We ended on a really good note; I think he figured out that I am not going to hurt him; I'm not trying to scare him, but I am also not going to give in to his evasive behaviour and let him continue to flee his fear. He is looking to me for leadership now. *Insert big grin!*
After that, I moved on to the lariat. A little more concerned, but Kai didn't take flight at first. I rubbed it on him, hung it off his head,
and picked up a loop and flipped it over and around him; laid it on his butt and then he moved out- not too scared seeming, just not sure what he should do.
A couple of rounds and he was ok. I swung it over my head and he was fine until it made "that" noise- the whirr of a rope in action. I stopped that and went back to flipping it around him until he stood still.
Then it was stick and string time....
and a whole different story emerged.
I started out just showing it to him, and he was immediately on guard. He did let me rub it all over him, but wasn't nearly as relaxed as with the other items.
When I started flipping it up on him he took off, and what I did was just hold the rope, let him go around and keep the stick in the same position it was when he took off. When he stopped, I lowered it. I backed off on the pressure a bit just to see what he could handle. If I had the stick pointed at the ground, and just wiggled the rope, he tolerated it but was wary. If I led him and had my back to him and flipped the rope from side to side as I walked, he tolerated it. But if I whipped the rope in any direction ( I never whipped it at him at all) and it made that whistling noise, he lost it. Around and around, with his head up over the rail as though he was looking for a way out.
Once he worked off some of that nervousness and was willing to trust me a little, I brought him in closer and worked within his limits. I'd shake the string, and he'd move his feet, and as soon as he stopped moving, I'd stop what I was doing. I managed to get a very short video of that just before my camera ran out of battery.
By then there was a thunderstorm rolling in, and we had been working for about an hour, so I didn't bother with my plan of saddling him- that can wait for another day. What I want now is to build his confidence in me. I think he must have had a bad experience with a whip somewhere along the line that taught him this fear. By the end of our session, he was licking and chewing, and coming right close to me instead of leaving. We ended on a really good note; I think he figured out that I am not going to hurt him; I'm not trying to scare him, but I am also not going to give in to his evasive behaviour and let him continue to flee his fear. He is looking to me for leadership now. *Insert big grin!*
5 comments:
We all fear something, and I think horses are no different. He'll be just fine with you at the helm. I remember doing some of the same things when I first started breaking my horse, Gypsy. How many years ago was that? Oh around 50 I'd say. lol.
He 's doing well. I am kind of in the same place with his sister....the difference though is after the lessons I can step on and ride...it's really to bad the person that started her did not do a very thorough job of the ground work......we are making progress though.Yesterday she stepped over to the fence for me and allowed me to pick up all the horse eating items I used to (torture)aid her ..my helmut bag..an extra bridle.. a very noisy scary raincoat and a hoodie..which I draped over the saddle..she tucked her tail a bit but stood her ground.. I was pleased enough with her after that.....I'm sure she was thinking...I'll do anything to have this over with.
That's very nice work, and a good description of what you did to help him start to overcome his fear. Red is terrified of lunge whips - it's OK if they're trailing on the ground, but if they're raised up at all, he's very scared, and if the lunge whip snaps or swishes, he's mentally gone and will bolt - even if it's another horse being lunged and at the far end of the ring. His former owner said that he'd been "aggressively round-penned" - hate to even think about what that was - before she got him. I suspect he has good reason to be afraid of lunge whips. I should do some work with him on this but need to wait until his ankle is healed and he's fully back to work, so he doesn't reinjure himself if he jumps around a bit as we're working.
Wonderful! Seems like you are doing a great job with him.
I see Reba got her exercise too:)
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