Helping horses and people who love them: Day 2
There are so many things behind the scenes of training that play a big part in the progress of the horse. One thing that we use daily is focusing on proper handling and care. On day two of working with the Frenchman/Firewater filly who we now call Chanelle! We like to use the horses name often throughout the training process keeping the outlook on the relationship with horse and trainer more personal.
To begin, our trainer Kali started with a thorough grooming session to get to know one another. Brushing Chanelle, exposing her to clipping ears, a bridle path, and cleaning her feet. Grooming is a crucial part of horse care. It’s a great opportunity to bond with the horse while also checking them over for any sensitive areas such as around the ears, poll, belly, flank etc. The filly was quick to relax and stood quietly for the whole grooming session enjoy the positive attention. Working with lifting the hooves is a great way to build trust at the same time teaching the horse to give to pressure and feel the release as a reward. Picking up each hoof and giving it back immediately to reward. One tip for working with hooves is always stand off to the side to prevent an injury associated with kicking or pulling back if the horse were to do so. It took a few tries to for the filly to understand why Kali was taking her feet away from her, but once she understood that she would get it back she was eager to please and gave me her foot as soon as I reached for it.
Once she was groomed and relaxed from the general handling, we next headed to the arena to expose the young horse to the training tools preferred by Kali. She was introduced to the stick and string, feeling no pressure from that tool Kali soon switched tool and used a flag to get a little more response with applying less pressure always giving adequate time allowing her to sniff and investigate the tools without any pressure being applied. She displayed signs of discomfort with the flag as it was blowing in the wind but within a few minutes she understood that it was nothing to fear. You want to be sure to notice signs a horse will give so you know weather or not to ad or remove any pressure during your training sessions.
As an experienced trainer Kali was sure to work through the fillies fears and built confidence by making simple requests utilizing proper timing with rewards. Timing is so important when working with a young horse that hasn’t had to process what is being asked. We quickly moved to the next step of gaining control of the horses body. Moving away from pressure and seeking the release. This step included lowering the head allowing the horse to once again be relaxed. This is a great point to return to throughout the training as the horse will have a simple cue they know the answer to and build up their confidence to try new things. (Watch how lowering the head becomes critical to our first ride.)
We kept the session short because on day two of training we are more focused on the mental responses to the training than the physical. “Chanelle”caught on quickly to what Kali was communicating. How simple are your cues for groundwork? Kali uses her leading hand with the rope to ask for the direction and the hand that follows to work on the horses self carriage. Making small adjustments teaching the horse to control its nose, neck, shoulder, ribs, and hind quarters. But remember on day two we only focus on simple things keeping it easy for the horse to understand and rewarding for the smallest efforts. She learned to be sent off on the long line both ways and direction changes. This is common and with practice we will get her confident going both directions feeling no pressure and settling in to her gaits. The session ended when she when she showed the ability to correctly be sent to the left and the right and stop and give two eyes when asked. Chanelle was engaged in Kali’s cues and requests and carried herself as well as one would want a two year old to do at this stage of training! What a nice filly. It was back to her cozy stall to rest up and let everything she learned sink in. On just day two this filly became responsive and giving while remaining relaxed throughout the process.
Are you looking forward to day three as much as Kali and Chanelle are? If so be sure to hit the follow button on our Facebook page for updates on the next training sessions for “Chanelle” who will be added to our available horses page !
