Hawk (pt 2)

I had Hawk under saddle a couple of times last week. Probably, more importantly, I had the chance to speak with his owner for a short while.  I told her of my assessment, and suggested she be a little more assertive in her handling of him.  She seems to be following that advice, and the horse seems to be working better for her. 

I had been told that the horse wasn't holding his gait.  That is, he would break out of the smooth, fast, and comfortable walking horse rack, into a bouncy trot.  For my first time on the trail with him, I wanted to push him into holding that gait.  Tacking up went better than before.  He didn't pretend to shy from the saddle and pad this time.  As I cinched up the girth, he arched his neck and flattened his ears at me.  I continued the task, and spoke firmly to him.  He sighed and relaxed his aggressive attitude.  He also stood quietly while I mounted.  A big improvement. 

I got another pleasant surprise when we got onto the paved road leading to the trail.  Right on command, Hawk moved easily and naturally into a smooth 4 beat amble.  For a walking horse, this is the next speed up from a flat walk.  He held this for the full quarter mile to the trail head, only breaking stride a couple of times.  That was easily corrected with a light tap on one rein.  This tapping on one rein, or nudging with one heel, is the cue used to train some walking horses to hold their gait.  Once on the trail, I pushed him into a rack.  This is the walking horses' specialty.  Done well, it is so smooth and fast, that other types of horses often have to canter to keep up.  Hawk made this transition easily as well. 

My plan was to to push him hard for one loop on the short trail around the pond.  He is a strong, well conditioned animal, and can handle that easily.  He moved well.  But, he frequently had to be reminded to hold his gait.  Usually, he corrected himself when I tapped on the rein.  However, a few times, I had to break him down to a walk, or a stop, and start again.  He is still headstrong. At each intersection, Hawk tried to choose the route.  He knows these trails, and seemed to prefer the one that would take us back to the barn the quickest.  I had to muscle him around to the one I wanted to take.  Other than that, he is very responsive to rider cues.  I think he simply needs a leader.  In the absence of one, he will take charge.

Cherokee has graduated! (Hawk pt 1)

Friday, May 4th, 2012

I didn't get out to the farm last weekend, so Cherokee has had a few days rest.  Or so I thought.  I went there today thinking to let him work on his ditch crossing for a bit.  As I was pulling in, I met the owner at the head of an outbound convoy of horse trailers.  We stopped to exchange a few words before he pulled out.  He said "If you're looking for that little mountain horse, we've got him in the trailer."  We've been riding him, and he is awesome!"  Then they headed out for a three day ride in the Carolina mountains.  So, now my once naive little pupil is out in the big wide world, earning his own keep.

Before he left, the boss pointed out a big, brown, pinto walking horse.  He said "That one has been giving his rider some trouble.  Get him out, and see what you think."  Hawk is tall, muscular, and alert.  I'd never ridden him, and didn't know his personality.  He has performed well, but now he is not holding his gait.  I gave him a good brushing down, and began to saddle up.  He shied away from the saddle pad, which surprised me a bit.  I got the feeling that it was an act.  The riders at this barn are mostly beginners, with a few intermediate level folks, and a couple or three experienced riders.  The horses are chosen carefully to match that.  I knew Hawk to be a veteran trail horse, with no major behavior issues.  I spoke to him firmly, and continued the chore.  He settled down, but nipped at me as I tightened up the girth.  I don't tolerate any behavior that can hurt a  human, especially on the ground.  I spoke sharply, and thumped his nose with my finger.  He didn't need any more than that.  With the saddle screwed down tight, we went into the arena to do some work.  He continued trying to buffalo me as I mounted.  Nothing aggressive, he just tried to crowd me while I tried to get my left foot into the stirrup.  I kept the off side rein tight to keep him straight, while I repeated the command, whoa.  Once I was in the stirrup, and committed, he stopped his antics. 

Hawk is not a mean horse, he was testing me.  After I was in the saddle, he waited for me to get settled and give him the command to move out.  When we started working, I quickly realized his problem.  He was anxious to move, and move out fast.  He wasn't concerned with holding the smooth, fast, and comfortable racking gait that walking horses are famous for.  He only wanted to go fast, at any gait whatsoever.  It was also difficult to get him to move in the direction I wanted.  Not that he didn't know what I wanted.  Now he was trying to bully me into letting him be in charge. 

One of the things I've noticed in recreational trail riders and horses is the tendency to simply go with the herd.  If someone up front decides to move out at a faster pace, all the horses in the group want to do the same.  Many, many riders seem content to let the horse make the decisions for them in this situation.  The result is often that an intelligent, and strong willed horse, like Hawk, decides he no longer needs to take direction from his rider.  I only worked him for about an hour.  Just long enough to make an assessment.  This seems more of a case for training the rider, rather than the horse.  Although, Hawk will need some work to get him to return to his natural walking horse gait.

Taming Water Monsters (Cherokee pt 1)

Had a very satisfying round of horse work this past weekend.  Been working with a young Kentucky mountain horse named Cherokee.  He had a good start with a professional trainer, but apparently was kept mostly as a pet after that.  Darn shame, because he has a silky smooth gait that makes me want to put on a flat topped Zorro hat, and ride with a glass of wine on my head.  He is a big scairdy cat, but that comes from being sheltered from the big wide world.  However, his personality and training shows through in his trust for the rider.  It is fairly easy to push him through whatever startles him.  The exception has been crossing water. My instructions from his new owner are to get him trail ready.  I'm convinced that he's never seen natural running water until a couple of weeks ago.  He seems convinced that a horse eating monster will get him as soon as he gets his feet wet.

His first experience was on the perimeter trail around the farm.  There's a ditch there, with a tiny trickle of running water in the bottom of it.  I finally convinced him to cross it.  After a lot of hesitating, and attempts to duck and run, he jumped it.  A very herkey-jerkey affair, and no fun at all.  Next, it was on to the trail in the big woods with the real creek running across it.

The next weekend I rode out with a small group of trail riders, hoping to use the herd instinct to my advantage.  The farm is located within an easy ride of a rather large state park, with a very good trail system running through it.  In spite of his naivety, the little horse ambles effortlessly over the trail as if he knows this is what he was born to do.  That is, until we came to the creek.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  I had pulled to the rear of the bunch, so we wouldn't interfere with anyone else if he refused, or jumped.  Nothing dramatic happened.  He simply couldn't be convinced to get any closer than 10 feet from the edge.  We tried a second time, riding in the middle.  Still no luck.  We tried to pony him across with an experienced rider leading him by the off side rein.  Nothing. Finally, I dismounted.  While the other riders waited patiently, I tried to lead him across.

The creek is about 10 feet wide, and about knee deep in the middle.  There are stones piled up on the downstream side to allow hikers to cross without wading.  I stepped into the water, but he wouldn't follow.  Finally, after I splashed around a bit, he became curious enough to splash a little with his nose.  Rather than hold up the trail ride, I called getting his nose wet, without panic, a success. We doubled back to a fork in the trail, and took another route.

The rest of the day was a big success.  We had a long ride and worked up a good, honest sweat.  There were two wooden bridges to negotiate, I'd wager the first he's ever seen.  A pair of ducks flew out from under the first one, just as he stepped on it.  He danced across it without coming out of his skin.  At the second one, he was obviously worried, but soldiered across bravely.

Last Saturday, I avoided the group ride and took him out alone.  I wanted to see if he was herd sour.  It also gave us the whole day to cross the creek, if we needed it.  Cherokee is not herd, or barn sour.  He loves being on the trail.  He moves with his head and ears up, and seems fascinated with how big the world is.  We rode straight to the creek.  He recognized the place before I did.  I felt him tense up, just before it came into my view.  I didn't take him straight to the crossing.  Instead, I dismounted in a grassy area by the pond that feeds the creek.  I let him graze, and have a look at the pond.  I splashed around at the edge, and he came to have a look.  When he seemed comfortable near the water, I remounted and headed to the creek crossing.  As I expected, he refused, just like before.  However, this time, I was using a rope halter, a 25 foot training rope, and a bunch of carrots.

I pressed him a bit, but he still wanted nothing to do with the water.  I dismounted, and gave him a bite of carrot, just to let him know that I had them.  Stepping into the water, I called to him, and pulled gently on the rope.  The long rope allowed me to let him know I wanted him to come across, without putting too much pressure on him.  It also let me keep him from turning away from me.  After some coaxing, he stepped to the edge and investigated the water with his nose.  I rewarded him with another carrot, and crossed to the other side.  With the long rope, I could pull him toward me and still give him enough slack to keep him from panicking.  I could still control his head enough to prevent him from turning his back on me.  It also allowed me to keep a safe distance, in case he decided to turn himself inside out.

I was prepared to spend the entire day getting him across.  It actually took only a short while to accomplish. After some hesitation, and attempts to turn back, he took a few steps into the water.  He splashed about with his nose, then stepped tentatively across.  I gave him another well earned carrot, and remounted.  Cherokee normally stands still for mounting, but he was still nervous, and wouldn't this time.  He had just passed a major hurdle, so I didn't worry about it. 

The crossing lies on a neat little loop trail within the larger trail system.  We rode around the loop until we came to the creek again.  Once again, he refused to cross, so I dismounted and led him.  This time, he allowed me to lead him directly across.  He got another carrot for that.  Instead of continuing on, I turned him around and went into the creek again.  I stopped him halfway across, and gave him yet another carrot.  He was nervous, but I kept him there for several seconds after he finished the carrot, then led him out before he panicked.  Once on the other side, I mounted again, and turned back to the creek.  Success!  With only a little urging, he splashed across.  He was still obviously nervous, but he stopped on command on the other side and stood for me to pat his neck and praise him enthusiastically.  We rode out on another trail, and met up with some other riders and finished out the day as a group.

The following day, we struck out alone again to reinforce our success.  He hesitated at the crossing again, but, with only a little urging, stepped into the water.  I stopped him halfway across, to see how he handled it.  He was trusting, but nervous.  He stood with a slack rein, but I could feel him trembling.  After some encouraging words, and a pat on the neck, we crossed to the other side.  We rode to the top of the loop and turned around to approach the creek from the opposite direction.  This time, he simply put his head down and picked his way across like a veteran trail horse. 

There is another creek on a trail farther out in the same park that I want to try.  This one is about twice as wide, and has a big noisy dam spillway next to it.  And, we still have to smooth out that ditch crossing.  But, I'm pretty enthusiastic about young Cherokee's prospects.

More Horse Work

There was a lady with us on the trail ride I took Dandy on last month. She was interested in buying him, and was there specifically to watch how the horse worked. She came back a few days later to watch us work in the arena. I guess she liked what she saw, because she bought him the next day. The fellow I work for sold him with a 30 day garauntee, and she still has him. Seems like it worked out well for all of us.

The next couple of projects were a speed racking horse, just retired from the race track, and a young walking horse. The speed racker did not work out at all. Her ground manners are atrocious, and she is much too excitable for the experience level of the riders at this stable. She rode well the first time, but had to be held securely while I mounted. The second time up, she was bucking and rearing before I was even in the saddle. Her owner still had her head, but he called for me to bail out. At several decades past the teenage bronc stomper I used to be, I followed his advice. This one is up for sale now.

The young walking horse is a tall, strikingly beautiful, pinto mare. She also has poor ground manners, but that's curable with work. Once under tack, she is fairly well behaved, and works well on the trail. Her owner, and the lady who is leasing her want to put her in the local amateur horse show, so I'm working on her consistency in the arena. I've worked her twice now. She is very responsive, picking up on voice commands and neck reining. She does need to learn to hold her gait until she's commanded to change it.

Tonight, I'm visiting a friend to help him work the winter kinks out of his horse. Life is good.

Trail Ride (Dandy pt 2)

Took Dandy on the trail Wednesday. Before that, he's had lots more ground work, and a little more saddle time. It's been too wet and slippery to try pushing him into a trot. But, I've been anxious to see what the foxtrot is like. We worked on his "walk and whoa" some more, and rode around the farm exploring his new surroundings. He has startled at some new things, but never spooked. After his initial reaction, his curiosity gets the best of him, and it's easy to coax him toward whatever it is. By Wednesday afternoon, the ground had dried, and the weather was beautiful. About a dozen folks gathered at the farm to ride the local trails. We put Dandy into the trailer with the rest and headed out.

He was a little more excitable than usual at the trailhead. But, there was a lot more going on than he has been accustomed to. As usual though, it was a simple thing to settle him down. He stood calmly while I mounted, with other horses and riders milling about. We even caught up a loose horse like he had been doing it all his life. Most of the others were on Walking Horses, and they rode out at a brisk pace. Once everyone was lined out, and we had room to work, I gave the command "trot", and kept the leg pressure longer than normal. Dandy first instinct was to follow the herd and he moved out at a stiff trot. I pulled him in a little, and he fought the bit briefly. But, it wasn't long before he settled into the gait his breed is famous for. I can only describe it as halfway between a good Walking Horse rack, and an easy western pleasure jog. Unlike the Walking Horses, he worked on a loose rein, which I am much more comfortable with in a trail horse. Dandys' youth and inexperience told on him though. He doesn't yet have the endurance to hold his foxtrot for any length of time. I tried to anticipate when he would run out of steam, and give the verbal command "walk" just before he slowed down. This, just to reinforce an association of commands with gait changes.

We crossed three wooden bridges successfully. The first, he tried to avoid. His owner rode up on another horse, and spoke to Dandy. We rode across together, with Dandy stepping gingerly. The second, I gave him his head, and he stepped across willingly, although he kept his head down, investigating the flooring all the way. The third had guardrails, and he hesitated, but crossed it easily as well.

I found out that he has a competitive personality. He doesn't like to be passed on the trail. He's not aggressive, he just moves over and hogs the trail. I had to stay after him to keep to one side while folks went past us. We rode about 8 miles, and worked up a good honest sweat. After 4 miles, he decided he did not need to keep up with the herd after all. We walked the rest of the way.

Thursday, I gave him a good liniment rubdown, and worked on ground hitching. I was only able to spend about an hour with him. By the end of that time, he would stay in place for just under a minute while I gradually moved away from him. Smart horse. He catches on really fast.