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. 

Next step, the slicker

 We had a lovely session today. I started by going back to working on her back feet. She is still reluctant to hold the foot up and I'm not going to fight her about it (I would lose)  so I did more work on using the rope to get her lifting without kicking. It took a while but she finally rested her toe on the ground , left hind, so I went ahead and trimmed the heel flare and rasped it for balance. I wasn't able to do the toe, but I will take that as a win. Next time will be the right hind. 

I decided to work with the slicker without the saddle for starters, here are a couple videos of that. 

As you can see, it was another non event. 

Next, I worked on positioning her at the mounting step, she pretty much has that perfect. I can stand on it and bring her along side and get her to step one foot at a time for that sweet spot. Then I drape myself over her back where the saddle goes and rub her off side from her chest to her tail. I was able to get my feet off the step so all my weight was on her. 

I take my belt off for this so the buckle doesn't dig in her. I get my ribs right over to the off side of her spine mostly for my balance, I am quite tall and no lightweight. 

I think Rally looks forward to these sessions as much as I do. She comes to the gate to be caught, and when I turn her back in the herd she stays with me. 

This mare is building my confidence as much as I am building hers. If you would have told me this spring that I would be starting an unbroke 9 year old horse to ride I would have called you crazy. 

Saddled

 I had a couple days off from working Rally, but today we got back at it. I like to step things up a bit every time, so today instead of saddling her in the round pen I took her over to the trailer and saddled her there. She is a curious horse, likes to check things out but in a calm manner, not spooky. She had to inspect the trailer hitch as we walked by, and watch as I opened the tack room door to pull out my gear. Saddled her up like an ole broke horse, and she ground tied while I took her photo. 

Led her to the pen, and I had it in the back of my mind that if anything untoward happened, it would be then, but I needn't have worried. 

I tightened the cinch another notch and went straight to asking her to move out.

If anything, she has more whoa than go. Which suits me just fine. 

Next I flapped the stirrups, getting her used to some commotion.

I think tomorrow I will step it up by adding the tarp or a slicker to the saddle, maybe get her dragging a rope. She sure seems to take everything in stride. 

We are in the summer heat now so I am keeping it to short sessions in the early morning. 

It was back to the trailer to unsaddle, again just like an ole broke horse. I think this is her third time saddled and asked to move out, and she has never bucked or scooted. Mind you I haven't asked her to lope saddled yet as the pen has been slippery but now that it has dried up with the heat, I reckon that is going on the agenda next too. 

Rally: Bring it on

Crappy cell phone photo, she really isn't that rump high. With a horse this quiet, it sure is tempting to skip a lot of steps and just get on and ride- 25 years ago I probably would have done just that. But with age comes greater self preservation instincts, because, we know, we just don't bounce like we used to, so taking my time to go through all the checks and balances will pay off in the long run. There are so many things I can do with her before I ever get on, and it will be fun for me and for her. 

My Rally girl

 One of the things I did yesterday with Rally was to bring my step stool into the pen so that I could get her used to someone above her. She looked a little surprised at first; remember horses don't normally look above them in close quarters unless they raise their head and are looking for danger. I proceeded to rub and pet her head and neck, then along her back. She was relaxed, so I leaned over her back and rubbed her on her off side. She was fine with that so I put my weight on her as I leaned over her. She was fine with that, which made me really happy!

Today I started on her back feet again- not a lot of progress, but less desire to kick out. 

Then I figured, what the heck, so I went and got a saddle pad to sack her out with. Well that was a non event. Threw it up on her a few times and she looked  at me as if to say, what next?

That pad looks good on you, Rally!

Note the ground tie

Well what next indeed? So I went and got my little saddle. Let her sniff it and check it out, then plunked it on her back. 

Ok, another non event. So why not.... I went ahead and fastened the cinches. 

Well, no problem. Note the ground tie again. So here I am thinking, what will she do when I ask her to move? Because that is often when they blow up on their first saddling. 

Can I just say, I love this horse? I got the distinct feeling that she has been waiting for this for a long time. I like to take things slow with her, partly because it keeps me focused and patient. 

There are lots of things to work on with her, such as getting her to trust me with her back feet, getting her ok with being closed in the trailer as well as hauling, and longeing her saddled. 

I may even ride her at some point....time will tell. 

Next up

 I finally got a decent trim on Rally's front feet. Now I am no farrier just an old lady with a bad back, and Rally is not really foot broke, so it has taken me a long time doing things a little at a time. I found that she is willing to lift her feet much better when I ask with my lariat. 

 

Eventually her feet look like this:

The next day I did clean up the sole with my hoof knife and rasped more flare from the hoof wall. 

A long way from perfect but so much better than this, which is what they looked like the day I bought her. 

Today I started on working with her hind feet. They have been self trimming lately; with all the rain and soggy pasture her feet are pretty soft and some chunks have come off. She wasn't too happy with me lifting and holding her foot so I went to square one, just asking her to lift her feet with my rope- so much easier on my back. 

I did this with both hinds, and when she would lift and set each foot down without kicking, that was enough for today. 

I was also able to send her in to the trailer twice today, yay! She kinda looked at me as if to say, "aren't you coming in?" No, Rally, you are a big girl now you can do it on your own! 

I have also done a bit with Patsy, she is so refreshingly easy after working with Rally! 

I got her started on longeing, she goes over the bridge without any worries, and the tarp work was easy too. 

In fact, so easy that Shayla asked me to introduce her to being blanketed. 

Easy peasy! Patsy also heads straight for the trailer if I turn her loose and has to check for grain in there. One thing I do have to work on with her is backing, both on the ground and backing out of the trailer. 

Always something to do! 

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. 

Back to work

 

Sunset, and a lovely end to Canada day, which I spent relaxing on the couch, watching the Ponoka Stampede on the Cowboy Channel. The recent rains have given us cool mornings, so this morning I worked Rally, and yesterday I worked Patsy. 

This was the first time I asked her to step onto and over the "bridge".  She just is so cool about everything.  I also asked her to follow me into the trailer- she had only self loaded at liberty (there was Food! in there! ) so asking her to step in was a whole different deal. 

Of course it helped that there was a bucket of oats in there, she is quite food motivated at this point.  She is super easy to work with.

I had to take a break from working with their feet; I have had a nasty cold for a couple of weeks and bending over sends me into a coughing fit. Getting better now, so feet are going back on the roster for both her and Rally. 

Today was Rally's turn, and smart girl that she is, she picked up where we left off. My goal today was to longe her over the bridge instead of asking her to come to me in front of her. One thing about Rally, if she thinks she is going to get in trouble she either shuts down or has an exaggerated reaction, so the key to her is taking my time, staying soft and giving timely releases so she understands when she gets it right. Also, she loves to get praised and loved on. 

Really pleased that she offered this right away. 

I had set up the L again too, and asked her to walk through it. A couple times, then I dropped the rope and she ground tied while I stepped back for a photo. 

Good girl, Rally. Next up will be backing through the L in hand.

Then it was over to the trailer for her rest and snack of oats. I am trying to get her to look forward to time spent at the trailer; whereas before she was giving it the stink eye she is now willing to walk up to it and rest. Baby steps for now. 

The other thing I just did was open a panel of the round pen and back the trailer to it, Will have to see how her reactions are and then build on getting her to step in. As I have said before, I am in no hurry, building trust and willingness in this mare is more important than having her conform to my agenda. That being said, trailer loading is super important and high on the list of must haves with her. How I wish I could have had her as a weanling! 

I found this poem on a page I just started following on Fb. If anyone is interested, check out Patrick T Muldoon. 

 

Back to work with Rally

 Rally is a big stout mare, about 1200 lbs and 15.1 hh. When she says no, her trick is to turn her head and try to jerk the lead rope away from me. I tried trailer loading again, and she did get away from me, ran back through the gate I had left open and into the foaling pen. So she got worked extensively for about 20 minutes in there. Once she softened and started to pay attention instead of flipping me the bird, we stopped. So I had to go to plan B. One should always have a plan B... or C... 

I found a good strong pallet and had Ted screw a plywood top to it, to use as a training tool to teach her to step on things she would rather not. And I brought up all my blue half barrels to create a bit of a row. 

The 1st day, she would step over the barrels but not on the plywood. So whenever she said no, she got longed with lots of change of direction so that it was work; she wasn't best pleased about that. Then she got to rest, only when she was lined up with the pallet. Refusal to step up got her work, backing up and longing small circles. 

Eventually, she gave me this:

That is where we ended the lesson, with lots of praise. She is a sucker for praise!

Today, the session didn't take as long. Her usual refusals, over the barrels, jump the pallet, etc. etc. So back to work on the longe line, with rest when she was lined up right at the pallet. Two more refusals, two more works, and she finally got it. 

Yay Rally! 

I took this video, it is 3 and a half minutes. 

I was quite pleased with her, as this session was less than half the time of the first one. Side note: I use the verbal cue " come here" when I am a safe distance in front of her; there may come a time when I need her to come to me instead of going past me. Self loading in a trailer is going past, so she needs to learn that too, but for now she needs to just stay with me when I am leading her and not try to blow past me. 

I led her over to the trailer when we were done; she was very suspicious and hesitant about it, and that come here cue came in handy. All we did at the trailer was give her some oats as I want her to be happy about going there. 

It is very different working with a basically free spirit 9 yr old horse instead of a weanling. She has never had to do anything in her life other than be caught and tied up. I am grateful that she at least had that!

I also think she is worried about trailering, as the only time she was trailered it took her away from her comfortable ranch existence where she was pretty much left to her own devices; it possible that she may associate trailers with a total upheaval of her new found happy place with friends. Incidentally, she worked her way into the #2 position in the herd. Velvet isn't too happy about that and has decided she would rather have her own pasture away from the herd. 

She is starting to look and act like an old horse, but she is still much loved ! I am pretty sure she isn't in foal, unfortunately, as her size hasn't changed in the last 2 months and she has no bag; she is 11 months and 2  weeks from her breeding date. 

I have a little road trip today, stay tuned!

Progress

 As I work with Rally, I am finding out more about her personality. 

She is very tactile. She has to touch everything with her nose. 

My shoe. 

My knee. 

Thumper (he was a bit wary!)

When I go to halter her, apparently I have to present the halter to her and let her touch it first (eyeroll). If I don't, she will turn her neck away and walk off a few feet. 

However, she is now letting me pick up her front feet.... sort of. I run my hand down the back of her leg, she lifts once I get to the knee, then I can slide down to the hoof and hold the toe, so far only for a few seconds before she paws it away. Every day, a little better. 

She will not, however, load in my 2  horse trailer yet. I have several methods to try but it requires her to get more solid on basic ground work, which is coming along..

Progress doesn't have to be rapid! I am happy to work with her at the rate she can deal with. 

 I think she likes me

Working with a mature horse from scratch is much different than working with a foal. I have to deal with her preconceived ideas of humans and her preferred lifestyle!

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!

Session 3

 We made good progress today.  I started with a quick brushing with a softer brush, pretty sure that suited her better. Then flag work- just more of the same but she didn't try to bite the flag this time! I was able to pet her under her belly with it too. There was a couple of times when she got a bit cranky so I had to nip that behavior in the bud. She doesn't like getting in trouble, so she got over that attitude quickly.

I used the blue rope on her front feet again only this time I asked her to pick them up. She did, but slammed them down instead of holding them, but she is getting the idea. One day at a time. 

Then I went to putting the blue rope around her cinch area,   wanting to see if she was going to object to that. 

Using the rope without it being actually looped around her, if there was a wreck I would only have to let go and it would fall off. 

Looped, left side

Looped. right side

Rally is more wary on her right side, so I was pretty happy with how well she handled things on the right today. 

For the back feet, I opted to use my lariat. I was a little concerned that it might not be easy to remove it though. 

I set a loop under her belly and led her forward, then picked up the slack when she stepped into the loop. 

I was actually surprised that she didn't try to kick the daylights out of it when I put pressure on her foot to get her to step forward. 

To remove the rope, I stood beside her facing back, and just reached down and loosened the rope so she could just step out of it- did that on both sides. Good girl, Rally! 

After doing the rope work with her feet, I spent some time running my hand down her shoulder to her legs, I had ahold of her halter cheek piece in case she got a little cranky. She did think about it twice, but a good growl at her changed her mind. I was able to quickly run my hand lightly below the knees on both legs. She loves to be praised, so she gets lots of lovin' every time she does something right. She was a little worried when I ran my hand under her belly, but that will come too. 

Some more news about her- I did cancel sending her out for 2 months to be bred to Sak Em in Cash, the palomino stud (sorry, Gun Diva!) Instead, we are breeding her to Scooter- remember him? Coyote Belle's buckskin son sired by Root Beers Boots, a top barrel and working cowhorse sire in Canada. Scooter is only 45 minutes away and I can pick her up as soon as he is done covering her. I am pretty excited for that cross, so awesome to get some of Belle's genetics back into my program. 

Tomorrow- we haul Gussie to Leo! 

Leading

 I'm pretty happy with Theo's willingness to learn. He is still his own boss outside but in the barn, he's a pretty cool little dude- and that's my nickname for him at the moment, Little Dude. 

I also love that the mares come when called, hopefully this will rub off on Theo and as time goes by he too will come when called after he's weaned. 

Tonight's session was improving his leading. So far, he has only given me one step at a time so it was time to ask for a little bit more. He has gotten used to having the rope flipped over him and around his legs, without wanting to move off; so now it was time to use the rope to ask him to move forward when I use it with pressure. You might think that he would be confused, with me wanting him to stand still and accept the rope, and then wanting him to move off the pressure, but this smart little fellow had no trouble figuring it out. I place the rope around his rump leaving plenty of rope to lead with from the halter (I use a 12 ft. lead). First I ask from the halter and if he hesitates I add a little pull on the rump rope. It only took a couple of times for him to get the picture and lead nicely. 

As you can see, that rump rope is draped down over his hocks and ankles at times, but he was fine with that. I think tomorrow I should be able to lead him without it and only add it if needed. He is easy to catch now in the barn, but I still can't halter him out in the open, but that will come. Today is only his 9th day of lessons. Also, I use a smaller diameter rope for working with foals and it is tied onto the halter so there are no big metal clips banging his face. I'm also asking him for his feet every time I handle him, and I can hold them for a little longer every day. 

Good boy Theo!

Theo makes progress

 The evening session with Theo on day 4:

He was fairly easy to catch, and at first quite cooperative. 

I did find in that session that he prefers me to be on his left side. When I tried working on his right it triggered his flight reflex. So I worked on just being on his right side without asking too much of him before ending the session. 

Yesterday- day 5-  he was much easier to catch . I haven't had to get Ted's help the last few days. 

I started with his right side. 

Mostly good, he did have a few moments where he wanted to leave- but he's now figuring out when he gets to the end of the rope to turn and face up instead of rearing and struggling. 

I am trying to be as light as possible with him; only taking the slack out of the rope and then opening my hand quickly when he gives. This will translate to working on softness when he is worked in the bridle. He's comfortable with having his feet picked up, a little longer each time, and this morning when I caught him, it was beside his mama and from the right side. 

I'm pretty happy with his progress so far. He's a big strong colt, so I will continue to work him in the little barn until he shows that I can walk up to him catch him, lead him either side, and give his hip either side. Then I can work on catching him in the bigger pen. 

Working with Theo

I finally got organized to start Theo's halter training. Previously, at about a week old, I had just put a halter on him after Ted helped catch him by holding him around the neck and tail- just let him wear it and then took it off after a few minutes. Surprisingly, he doesn't mind the feel of the halter going on; some colts get worried when they feel it going over their nose. 

So here's how the lessons went. Today was day 4. 

Day 1:. We had to corner him to catch him, then halter him and see how he handled that. He was Not Impressed. I do this in the barn, which has a center support that he and Velvet can circle around, and circle they did. I had Ted halter and hold Velvet while Theo figured things out. His idea was to hit the end of the lead rope and go up. I was not adding any pressure, just holding the rope and he would take off and hit the end of it. Once he realized that it wasn't going to make the halter go away, he stood and pouted. Once standing still and putting up with being petted and rubbed, I turned him loose. 

Day 2: Still had to corner him to catch; this time we had Velvet haltered first. He still tried to outrun the halter. I started asking for a little give, and although he didn't really understand what I wanted I rewarded the slightest movement. Then worked a little on the rope around the hip to get him to move his hind end over. Once he did that just a little bit, we ended the session. 

Lots to think about

Day 3: Two sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. I wanted to catch him without Ted being there. He zoomed away a lot, but I got him in his favourite corner and caught him.. However, Velvet (morning session) was pacing, wanting out, so I had Ted come and hold her. Theo did try leaving again but rather half hearted as he now knows that it doesn't work. He gave me some nice hip-arounds before we ended the session. In the evening, he was still not wanting to be caught so I started throwing the lead rope over his back  It was interesting that it only took a few throws and he stood to be caught. He kind of wrapped himself up in the rope a bit and then stood still. Once again, I had to get Ted to hold Velvet. But we got some nice gives, especially following the rope around the hip. 

A nice little give

That hip though! 

Day 4: Our morning session went really well. Theo tried to evade catching by going around to Velvet's off side, I threw the lead rope over her onto his back, and then he moved to his "spot" and stood while I caught him. I asked for a give forward, and he gave me a couple of nice forward moves, so I called it and will see how he does this evening. 

Notice I'm not pulling on him, just holding the lead rope with minimal tension. The moment he steps forward, he gives himself slack.

When I went to take the halter off he got a little bit flighty but overall- Good boy, Theo! 

Hobbles

 Edited to add another informative post

We got the hard frost I was waiting for- the last 3 nights in a row now. It has slowed the flies down but hasn't completely sent them packing. 

I worked with Ruby the other day.  She and Velvet came in one day all covered in either bites or hives, I suspect ground wasp or biting flies because there were bald patches under the swellings, and those triangle shaped biting flies were horrible for a while. 

Looks worse because I had covered the bites with an ointment I got from my sister:

It definitely helped. Plantain is considered a weed but it is so very beneficial. 

Since these bites are in the cinch and saddle area, riding isn't an option until they go away, should be soon though. So it was hobble training time. 

I start with getting them to lead by the front feet. With a green colt I would take longer doing this to make sure they are solid, but with Ruby it was plain that she had done this before. 

A couple of times with each foot, then I moved on to the rope around her legs. I use a soft cotton rope at first, and tie with a fair amount of width between their feet  to begin with, to see how they handle it. 

Note that I tied the quick release knot with the wrong end.... but I fixed it. 

Next, make the distance between the legs shorter. 

 Once again, Ruby was fine with this.

Nuthin' to see here folks, just a hobble broke horse!

Since Ruby originally came from a cowboy home, I am thinking they did hobble train her. However, since she's a double swirl horse, I will do this a few times just to make sure she's solid . 

I was asked about the steps to hobble training. Here is a list I borrowed from Mills Consilient Horsemanship facebook page: 

* Ground tying.
* Confident responses to halter pressure forward, back, and to the side.
* Tying with the tie ring with 1 wrap, then 2.
* Tying solid.
* Leading by the feet.
* Hobbling with a loose wrap and making sure the horse can steer from the hindquarters and small step without feeling unbalanced.
* Hobbling with a tighter wrap
* Hobbling with a quick release.
* Hobbling solid.

The 1st 4, I usually do by the time the horse is a long yearling. I usually do the lead by a foot in the fall of their long yearling year, as well as any other rope work. I haven't hobble trained for many years, but the rest of the list is the method I use, but I put the quick release there right from the first loose wrap.

EDITED to add a link to a more in depth post on hobble training for those of you who are interested. 

From Good Horsemanship-Ross Jacobs