Rally makes progress

 Since I am still waiting on the hives to heal I have done a few different things with Rally. I have a lot more done on her hinds now, still have to use the rope to aid in picking up her hind feet, really saves on my back. I reward her when she rests the toe on the ground; there I can clean them and do a little with the nippers too. Yesterday and today I was able to hold the left foot up by the toe and nip the toe on it, all except the very last little bit and it wasn't worth fighting any longer for that as she started out being a little kicky and had to be Told. A side note here, Rally is very good at reading my energy and absolutely knows when she has crossed the behavior line. No need to get physical. 

You can see the last little bit just past where the straw is pointing

.

Looking much better so far

Once I finish nipping and can rasp to dress it up, that foot should look decent. Next up, finish that and do the right hind, tomorrow's project. 

I have also got her crossing the barrels asking for her to pause once her front feet are over and then step back. 

She now steps over and waits to see if I want her to go forward or back. Good girl Rally! 

I have also been working on sidepassing from the ground. Her go to when she is confused or just not wanting to do what I ask is to threaten to bite. So I am aware of that and make sure if I see that building in her to make my request even more clear. And love up on her when she does it right. Today she did a couple steps each way correctly, so that was enough. 

Trailer loading has become her reward- she sure has come a long way with that! 

I always start each session with her feet; clean the fronts and see what they need; today I asked her to bring each foot forward and put it on the trimming stand so I could rasp the flares and round the edges, and that was a success!  

Proof! 

There is still a bit to clean up on her soles and frog but that can wait now until I get the hinds done. Overall I am pretty happy with her progress. 

Patsy update- all back to normal. This morning they had tipped the salt tub over and spilled both blocks and the loose salt. Oy! Refilled and we shall see if they do that again. We had a rocking thunderstorm last night complete with torrential rain, big boomers right overhead and some pea sized hail. All 4 mares stood quietly in their shelter. I think having those older mares not worrying about all the ruckus is good for Patsy, she was as unfazed as they were. 

Sunday Silence

 

Next....

 The last 2 days,  I went to plan C with Rally.  I could see that she wasn't mentally ok with being sent in the trailer, so made the decision to only go in with her until she was really solid on loading without hesitation. Yesterday she had only minor hesitation. She backed out nicely of her own volition, and I loaded her a couple more times, then stepped out and let her dwell in there. Today, well.... she decided that being caught was optional. ( It wasn't.)

Rally: You can't catch me

She led the mares on a romp through the pens. They are currently in a series of interconnecting pens, so I just kept closing gates until I got the other 3 in the small foaling pen, then caught Rally and kicked the mares back in their pasture. 

Then because she was a bit ramped up I opted to do something different with her before the trailer loading. 

Look Rally, it's a raggy old tarp. No monsters lurking. 

Rally: It's more fun than trailer loading

Surprisingly enough she was perfectly ok with the introduction of the tarp. 

This mare is full of surprises, the things I think she will say no to she is perfectly fine with. 

After that, I led her into the trailer, no hesitation. Loaded and unloaded 3 times, no problem. 

So now she gets a break from that and it's time to get back to working on her feet . 

Good girl, Rally!

Rally: I am a good girl!

Lets get loaded

 The last two days have been huge for Rally, although we still have a ways to go. Yesterday, I wanted to focus on sending her in. I got her front end in right away, but after that it was back to the drawing board. A lot of work in hand and all I could get was her loading half her body. As I asked for more, she tried to bite me... that earned her a Come To Jesus moment and a lot of high pressure work on the long line. 

As I went back to asking her to load, I could see that she was close to shutting down, so I went to plan B. The whole goal is to get her loading consistently, and if I can't get the end result of sending her in then it is back to stepping in with her, which I did. It seems that her confidence is in me as she will load if I go in with her. I got her in, and let her dwell in there, then quietly worked my way along her side and stepped out. 

It was a lot of work for her, when it could have been so simple, but this whole deal is about working on her mind. 

She ate her bit of oats, then quietly stepped out. I always love up on her, scratch her itches and tell her what a good girl she is before I take her back to the herd. 

Today again I went to asking for the send in, she immediately loaded her front feet, but that was all she would give me. Every time she stepped back out she got a minimal amount of work before I asked again; load the fronts and half the body was all I could get. So I stepped in again, but this time only to the back of the trailer instead of going all the way in. And she eventually did load 3 feet.

Is this what you want?

So back in with her, but I only went part way in and she loaded all the way . 

She did move that hind foot all the way in because I went in for  moment and moved her up a bit, and she stood there for a long time, thinking about things. Finally relaxed and ate her oats. Eventually I stepped to her head and asked her to back out, which she did perfectly. 

This whole journey with Rally has really been a gift to me. I almost didn't buy her, thinking that at my age I didn't need the challenge of working with a big strong horse that was basically untouched. I wasn't sure I was up to it. However, the first time I went to see her I felt a connection with her. My instinct was that this mare was worth it. She also reminds me of myself; being willful as I was growing up and doing all the wild things that young people of my generation did, before having my own Come To Jesus moment and straightening out my life. Literally. 

I think Rally has a lot of try, just needs to know when she does something right, because she really has no idea of the reasons I ask what I do of her. It is so much easier with baby horses because they  adapt easier to new situations; the oldest horse I previously started was a 2 year old, so still quite adaptable. 

I am looking forward to tomorrows session, I expect it to go much easier. 

Doing what it takes

 Once Rally made the decision to load her front feet in the trailer, with me in there, it was time to work on sending her in. She did, but gave me her worried/puzzled look. 

I worked on getting her to move further in, but that was all she would give me on the send. 

So I reverted to going in with her; sometimes it is 1 step forward and a step or 2  back. She loaded three quarters of her body again  no back feet. I noticed that she got really worried if I tapped her butt for a go forward cue, so back to the drawing board it was. I worked her on the line, making sure the rope sailed onto her butt until she stopped being anxious about it. Then asked for the send into the trailer again, but only got half her body, and her worried look. So I stepped in again, got her three quarters in again, let her rest a bit then went to swinging the rope at her butt to encourage forward with her back feet. We had to go out and back in several times, but she didn't have big evasions, just not wanting to give that last little bit. Eventually, she raised a back hoof and let her toe rest in the trailer. 

Lots of praise and lovin' up on her, and a couple handfuls of oats, et voila!

By George, I think we got it!

She got free choice on the pan of oats then. 

Since I was up in the angled corner at the front of the trailer, I had to think about how she was going to get out. Would she try to turn around and mash me with her big ole but? Would she get panicky if she couldn't feel the ground with a back foot? 

What I did was take her halter off, stay with her being at liberty in the trailer, then step around in front of her and leave, whereupon she backed quietly out. Good girl, Rally! 

I let her stay in the round pen for a bit and graze and relax, as I want her to know it's a good place to be and that she doesn't get to go back to her herd right away after working. 

 Once I can send her all the way in, I will only do this a couple times a week, and get back to working her on giving me her feet and a bunch of other fun things like walking over a tarp, wearing a tarp, and whatever other things I can come up with. Let the fun begin! I may even introduce her to a saddle at some point. 

A breakthrough

 For the last few days I have been working on trailer loading Rally. We had made good progress on the bridge, where I could just send her over it, both directions, so it was time to step things up. 

What I did was open up a panel of my round pen and back the trailer in there, which created a safe area for me to be able to get out of the way, as well as containing Rally if she decided to turn tail and leave. 

The 1st day, after working the obstacles, and taking her to the trailer, she only pawed at the trailer floor, the looked at me.  I read her as saying she wanted to try but it was so far out of her comfort zone, that was all she could give me on that day. She had 3 big evasions where she was leaving, which earned her a lot of work; I stood still and sent her around me in half circles with lots of rapid changes of direction. Eventually she thought better of leaving, but pawing the trailer was all we could do that day. 

The next day I turned her loose in the pen and brought Patsy in. Patsy, of course did all the obstacles and loaded in the traoler like an ole broke horse; what a good mind on that filly!

Sorry about the poor photo, but you can see that Rally was watching. I put Patsy back in the herd and left Rally in the pen for a while, watching her from a distance. She eventually went up to the trailer and finished off the grain in there but didn't go in.

Day 3, it was time to get serious. I started out by a walk through the obstacles, she has the bridge down pat and is learning to walk through the L without knocking the poles. Then I longed her in short circles at the trailer, and let her rest at the trailer door. Pretty soon she was hunting the trailer; when that happened, she got a break, then I would ask for her to put a foot in. She consistently put her right foot in, so I called it for the day. There is only so much she can take before she shuts down, and this was a good building block place to stop. 

Yesterday, no longeing, just a walk through the obstacles and an ask to load. She did the one foot load, then gave me attitude so she got worked in the half circles again. We went through that several times, with two half hearted attempts to flee, then at the trailer, she started to paw with her left front as well as the right front. Hallelulia! She was now thinking with both sides of her brain. 

It wasn't long before this happened:

Her feet make  me twitchy.... soon we will fix them.

The interesting thing is that this didn't happen until I stepped in the trailer. She wasn't going in until I did too. 

I was so pleased with her, this was a huge moment of trust for her. I even had a few happy tears if truth be told. She got lots of love and praise, and actually just stood there for quite a few minutes, checking out the walls looking behind her, and eating the handfuls of grain I offered her, before quietly backing out. 

Today we built on that, same routine and this time  the pawing with both feet, followed by wanting to put weight on her leg, and again once I stepped in she did too with both feet. I encouraged her to step in a little further, which she did getting her hind feet right to the trailer- in essence, she was three quarters loaded. 

Still nervous about committing with her back feet but she did raise a hind and touch her toe to the edge of the trailer, twice. She also backed quietly out and reloaded by following me right in. Some more quiet time in there and that was enough for today. 

Good girl, Rally. 

Switcheroo

 We pulled a switcheroo today. I hauled Zipper back to Shayla, as she needs to do some work with him, and I brought Patsy here.  Patsy is a red roan yearling who is a half sister to our Drifter stud that we sold, same sire. She is quiet and friendly like he is. 

She looks like a Gussie mini-me!

She did really well on the trailer ride of an hour and 20 minutes. 

She has a lot of shedding to do, all that white hair will shed off . I took a shedding curry brush to her and got a pile of hair that the wind picked up; I bet the birds will too.

She is very friendly....

I am going to have so much fun with her!

This week will also be all about putting more training on Rally. Picking up her feet and trailer loading are my short term goals with her. 

Time to get back to work, pretty girl!

Today was the day

 Theo's person came to see him and pay for him last week. 

He was quite smitten

He has a gentle hand and seems to get along with Theo. He had to book a hauler for him as his own truck is in for repairs. He also brought a leather halter (as per the hauler's request) and a tube of Gastroguard for Theo.

The hauler for Theo was scheduled for around 9 am today. Around 8:30 I looked out the window and got a surprise.....

Stray cows!  Theo and the girls were quite surprised too but didn't  get overly excited.

But I  thought it might make loading Theo difficult if they were hanging about; fortunately they moved off to the hay field so issue averted. 

I brought Theo out for a few farewell  photos. 

When the trailer pulled in they had a couple of horses in there so of course all the horses got to calling. This is a 4 horse head- to - head set up with a box stall in the middle so that was where Theo would travel. He wasn't  impressed with having to go up a ramp so we brought Velvet out and loaded her. He loaded with her but as soon as she came out he did too, so I  just held Velvet beside the ramp and we used his grain  to get him to go in by himself. A couple of tries at that and I  was able to get the ramp and windows closed while the hauler held Theo in there. 

Of course  once he was closed in the hollering began. 

Velvet paced and hollered for about 15 minutes before she gave up and she's  been quiet ever since.

Gussie was calm and quiet so I  think that helped Velvet to calm down. 

Theo will have a 2 day trip to his new home, overnighting in Kelowna before heading to Vancouver Island. 

Sure is different here with no stallion and no foal!

A thank you, and moving on.

 My heartfelt thanks to everyone who left comments on the passing of Beamer. It means a lot to me that you all loved and admired him too. He was an exceptional horse in looks and temperament as well as in personality. 

Moving on to this new phase in my life is not easy; as is to be expected. I have been filling my time in working with Theo. He is such a delight to work with, and he gives me as much joy as Beamer did- probably because he is so much like his sire. We had a really special moment this morning; I went to the barn to feed the cats, the mares and Theo were out in the pasture. Theo spotted me and came strolling into the barn to see what I was up to, and the mares paid no attention to him leaving them. We had a nice quiet moment together, I brushed him and bent over to scrape the bot eggs off his legs. He laid his neck over me and gave me what  seemed like a horse hug. Not trying to nibble or investigate, just a quiet moment of peace that filled my heart. 

After a bit I went to the house to get my phone for photos on this beautiful sunny day (we had an inch of rain over the last 24 hours) and he hung out at the barn until I came back. I haltered him and led him to the trailer for his daily loading lesson, and he spotted a couple of deer on the front lawn and paused to look at them. He wasn't alarmed or spooking, just stood quietly looking at them for a while before getting into the trailer for his morning bit of feed. 

Trailer training went really well over the last week. The first day, it went like this:

Theo: You want me to WHAT?

Me: Come and get your ration. Yumm!

Theo: Well... maybe. 

He had a few bites of ration, then I called it and tried again in the afternoon. 

Theo: You been holding out on me! Haven't had this for a while!

That evening went much quicker. Right to the door and started munching. 

Doesn't he just look like Beamer here.....

3rd session: Next day we got one foot loaded. And then two. 

 

Theo: I think I got this now

4th session: Me: Good boy, Theo! 

Theo: I am a good boy!

And that's all folks! After that Theo loaded every time without hesitation. Not only that, he willingly backed out right from the first time I asked him. I have yet to close him in the trailer, but that will have to wait for his person to teach. He will be here tomorrow to meet Theo, not sure if he is hauling Theo himself this weekend or if he has a professional hauler coming in a few days. 

I have a little update on a dog I had, remember Thea? She was so intensely wanting to work that I sold her back to her original breeders and now she has a job at the sheep trials that they attend; she sets and holds the flock along with her owner on horseback as they await each contestant. Best thing I ever did for that dog was letting her go. 

Off day

 Sunday after church we went to the local Pro Rodeo. Man it was hot! Hottest day of the summer so far. It was nice to have a "date day " though, it's been a long time since we went anywhere together just for entertainment. Didn't take my big camera but got a fun video with my cell phone:

Ruby got Sunday off, but Saturday and Monday I worked her on the ground and on trailer loading. 

She has off days; I can usually tell within a few minutes what kind of horse I will have on that day. Saturday, she was doing her robo-horse thing where she kind of shuts me out and just goes into what I call dude horse mode: doing things out of habit and not tuning in to me. So I worked her in hand, asking for hip yield followed by shoulder yield/change of direction. It took her a bit to get smooth with it. Then I worked on whoa. I have a 3 step program that I use, giving them the best chance to respond to the lightest ask first. Verbal command, followed by reinforced by body position and a stronger verbal command, then a louder WHOA combined with a flip of the lead rope. She pretty much totally ignored the first 2 and I had to resort to #3 several times before she ended up stopping consistently on #1. 

I chose not to ride her in that frame of mind so I took her over to the trailer  to work on trailer loading. I haven't done that with her since I bought her. The seller loaded her just fine into his big stock trailer, so I wasn't anticipating much of an issue. Wrong. She didn't think it was a good idea at all. So we worked through that until I could load her once all the way in and have her wait until I asked her to come out. 

Monday we had storms in the forecast. I was planning on riding her before we got the expected thunderstorm, but I ended up with a strong attack of vertigo so I just did a rerun of trailer loading. I suspected that she had time to think about it, and sure enough she was much better. Minimal arguing, and I loaded her a few times and had her back out. (Saturday she was turning around in there and stepping out. )

Ruby is proving to be a prime example of a double swirl horse. Some days everything is just tickety boo, other days, she puts up walls. So I am learning to read her and deal with the horse I have on that given day.  

Mission accomplished.

 

Done and done. They were not at all worried about the trailer door being shut. 

Now to refine all the basics that they have on them before they head back home. 

Trailer loading training

 Now that we have a bit of cooler weather (today is the last day of it) I have been working with Dally on trailer loading. She hasn't been out of the pen for about a month so she was a bit looky but not spooky. The first day just as soon as I  walked her over to the trailer, the neighbour kids started yelling and fighting and going past the trailer on bikes and a mini car that an adult was pushing for them.... talk about distractions....

However, Dally did well. I only asked for her to check it out and look at it, and that was enough. I brushed her as she stood with her head in the opening, and gave her some grain, which she wasn't keen on  due to all the newness and distractions. 

The second day, I picked a moment when there was no kid activity going on... that lasted for about 3 minutes. As soon as I got her to the trailer, here came the kids on their bikes going back and forth  right past the trailer.. sigh.... oh well it is good training to get her to ignore distractions and focus on what I am asking her to do. This time, she was quite happy to stick her head in and eat. I started with the bowl at the edge of the trailer.

I apologize for the twist in the halter! Bad me!

Then progressed to putting it farther in and standing inside the trailer myself. 

That was pretty good, given the circumstances so we quit there. Today I hope to get 2 feet in. 

The reason I don't load mama and then ask the foal to go in is because my trailer is not hitched to a truck and mama stepping in could tip the trailer up at the front; also because it is a way to teach baby to be more independent of mama and to trust me, and give her something to think about.