Remembering All The Things

It's been unseasonably nice lately! We got snow in October, but so far November has been feeling downright spring-like. We had a extra long weekend because of Thanksgiving, so I was able to get in some extra pony time this week.

On Saturday I went out to do some actual work with Gobie. The last couple of visits had been pretty laid back. We started with some grooming of course. I tied him to a post and he was quite good about standing still and being patient. Despite the warm days it still gets pretty chilly in the evening so Gobie's still sporting an excellent fuzzy coat. He was pretty muddy so he took a bit longer to get clean. He's also been getting some scabby spots that I'll have to investigate. I don't know if it's the rain, or maybe some bug bites of what. What is for certain is that Gobie is a tick magnet! I had to pick two of him today. Apparently chickens are good for keeping ticks down, but I doubt Bonnie would appreciate me gifting some to her. Ha!
After the grooming we did the usual yielding exercises--leading, back, turning on the forehand. He's a pro at this stuff by now, but it's always good to know what kind of a mood he's in.
I had read up a little on lunging earlier in the week, so we did some of that, too. Basically I learned that the key is consistency--so as long as I'm consistently bad he'll figure it out. Kidding! He did do a great job on lunging on both sides today, so either he was absorbing what we had done earlier or I was doing something brilliant that I wasn't aware of. I'm inclined to think it was more him than me, though.
I also put the bitless rope bridle on him and the surcingle. We had done this once before, but not both together. He was initially a little uncertain about it and didn't like me tugging on the surcingle, but got over it pretty quickly. The new thing added to the mix was running the lunge lines through the surcingle loops and attaching them as reins to the bridle. I have to admit, all that line was hard to manage and I was bit worried I was going to get Gobie's legs hopelessly tangled. But we managed pretty well thanks to my management and Gobie's easy going personality. Soon I had the long reins where they should be and me behind Gobie. I thought I would try getting him to back up since he's usually more than willing to do so. So, standing several feet behind Gobie with each long rein in a hand, I pulled back with equal pressure and asked him to "back." No problem! He backed right up, his ears tilted back to listen to my words. Now, if only the moving forward and the turning were so easy! I asked him to walk and he did, but it was obvious he found the whole thing a little confusing and he really wanted to turn to look at me and get some visual feedback on what I wanted him to do--and to get some treats of course! We ended but being able to walk in a little rectangle, but getting him to go straight and turn to the right wasn't going so hot. Whenever we got into a stick spot, though, I could always get him to back up and that was our saving grace. We ended the session with that so we could go on a good note.
Gobie stood quietly and dutifully as I took all that tack off. He really was trying to be a good boy. I brushed him down afterward and gave him a bunch of treats before turning him back out with his pals again.


I think part of the confusion may have been the bitless bridle. I think it's kind of a piece of junk--or I guess more accurately it doesn't work the way I think it should work. I'm looking forward to the Horse Expo in January so I can check out some more bitless bridle options. I think it will all start making more sense to him when he's got something better around his face. I may continue working with him in just a halter, since at least that will have some pressure release involved.

Before I left for the day I mixed up some black oil sunflower seeds and some supplements. It's been a while since he's gotten this mixture so I thought it would be a good reward. We did a lot, after all!

Tomorrow I'm visiting the tack shop for a couple of winter/Christmas type goodies for ol' Gobie. Monday afternoon the whole gang is due for a hoof trimming--Booboo's first at the barn--so that should be exciting!

Learning new things

Good news, everyone! Bonnie found another boarder. Although we'll miss Rose and Kahlua around the barn, it is comforting to have some new friendly face, and folks to help out with hay with the coming winter. The new horse is a cremello Mountain Horse gelding.

Cute! 

He's currently in his own paddock so he can get to know the other horses over the fence, without having to get into any kicking of biting matches. Already Gobie is being a butthead, and as Bonnie reported, wouldn't even let the poor new guy SNIFF Honey over the fence. He's a jealous boyfriend for sure. I was fully anticipating Gobie to be on his worst behavior because of the changes going on with the herd, but to my surprise he was in most excellent form today! I was so impressed with his manners that we tried some new things: the surcingle, and the mustang bridle.

Surcingle
I use a surcingle in training to get a horse use to having something squeezing around his middle, listening to cues when you're not standing right next to him, and teaching them to drive a cart. I find it's a good middle step in getting to sitting on their back and riding.

My goal today was to just get him use to the feeling of the surcingle. We weren't going to do any cues or driving just yet. If you remember we've been doing some desensitization work so Gobie learns that when he encounters something scary he should not FREAK OUT and look to me for direction. All that foundational work paid off!

Sniffing the surcingle.

Wearing it. No big deal!

It was super easy putting it on him, and buckling it to the first notch. I had him lunge at a walk with it on pretty loose, and it was no problem so by increments we tightened it up till it was pretty snug around his girth area. This is the same stop the saddle will hug him we it's time to ride. Once it was on securely I had him walk around in a circle at a pretty brisk pace. It didn't seem to bother him at all! Some horses don't like the strange feeling of having something around them at all and will buck, roll, or try to kick at the surcingle like they're trying to shoo a fly. No such funny business from Gobie!

Mustang Bridle
The next new thing was the bridle. I've trained horses in bitless bridles only--using pressure points on the face and nose to guide a horse instead of using a bit in their mouth. I don't think there's anything wrong with people who use bits, it's just not how I learned to train or even really to ride.

However, I'm not sure that we'll stick with the Mustang Bridle. It's made of soft nylon which I'm sure is comfy for the horse, but when you pull and then release it doesn't seem to go back to its original position. The whole point of yeilding to pressure is that when you do, you get relief from the pressure and I'm not sure that's being done in this case.

Either way, having something new on his face was a good step. He sniffed it, and was totally unphased, and as far as he was concerned it was just a softer version of his halter.

Totally unconcerned.

I hooked up the reins and put them over his head. Still no big deal, so much so that he put his nose down to eat some grass. To test out the control, I pulled up on a rein. He responded easily.

He also responded really well to backing up with pressure, and turning his nose in to touch the left side of his belly, and then the right side of his belly. We even tried turning his nose in and moving his hindquarters out and he did it like a champ.

Of course, he does these things brilliantly without a bridle, so he could have just been responding to our usual yielding routine.

We'll see what happens when we couple the surcingle and bridle together and try a little driving.