02/15/07- What a very frightened horse! As a very young horse, she was bossed around by a very dominant horse and grew to be very scared of equines. Of course, she was extremely scared of people. At the very beginning of the training, we kept her away from other horses.
The very first day she was worked with, we (Steve Edwards and I) did some light despooking with a small plastic bag tied to a crop (we call it the "bag monster"). Just looking at her made her eyes grow big and her head stay high, so you can imagine how long it took for her to relax with the bag.
After that day, we released her in one of our pastures with one other horse (not extremely dominant, but is a stud). The confidence she gained from that one session was apparent. She shook her head while trotting and "told" the other horse what to do.
It was so important to keep her in the round pen (with or without a halter) and rub my hands all over her neck and face. This showed her that I was kind and didn'twant to hurt her. Her entire body trembled for the first week of this work, but eventually ceased. I put my face on her neck and breathed slowly and deeply. I scratched behind her ears and under her chin. We did this for about a week until she stopped shaking from human contact. I did this for about 45 minutes a day. I cannot stress how important this was for this scared horse. Rubbing her neck with my hands and face gave her that needed closeness and assurance.
We continued to despook her and work slowly towards putting a saddle on. Another way we despook is by taking a two foot string between two foot-long buoys and putting it over her back. This accustoms her to human legs touching her left and right side at the same time. We pick up the string from the middle of her back and move the "legs" from her back end to her neck.
She took the saddle after a couple of days, but was clearly uncomfortable while longeing. Trotting was also difficult to her with a saddle on.
We needed to do two new despooking tricks. One, I stood on a barrel as she closely walked around me. This got her used to a rider being higher than her eye level. Two, I did jumping jacks behind her drive line from far away and moved in closer as she became comfortable. That was a sight for sore eyes let me tell you! You would have laughed. This allowed her to relax with a rider getting on her back (who must be behind her driveline).
Two weeks (roughly) after we began, I was able to put my foot in the stirrup with Steve holding the halter. I could stand up in the stirrup (practiced that a lot), and after three days (?) I slowly swung my leg over and sat on her back. This was not the horse to rush with. She was too scared and needed a lot of reassurance.
She was still unable to do anything with other horses around, so we needed to stay in the round pen. She was so tense during mounting and dismounting, so we really needed to practice both of those. We concentrated on that for a day or so.
Something unusual happened in the round pen with her. I was by myself doing my usual rubbing the neck and talking sweetly when I decided to try and put my foot in the stirrup without her being held. When I did, she didn't move her back legs. I praised her and then tried again. This time I stood up. She walked a little, but I was able to pull on the halter to a stop. When she stopped I hopped off and praised her again. I did it again and she didn't move at all. I slowly put my other foot in the stirrup and she took it extremely well (Meanwhile, Steve was feeling a little chest pain and looked away...). I realized that her problem with mounting and dismounting wasn't me, it was the fact that her halter was being held. She might have felt like she couldn't escape, or she needed to see what I was doing.
This is not usual. Horses usually feel more secure being held by the hallter during the beginning mountings. It's amazing how different horses are.
The next day she was ridden in the ring by Brent (not your typical rough cowboy, but bold enough) up through trotting.
Today I walked and trotted her in the round pen after a good longe and some bag monster despooking. She is relaxing up very well.
Since she does not like any moving thing behind her, we will be doing some run-up-behind-her despooking before we take her to the riding ring.
02/17/07 - Polar Bear is doing some good improving. The past two days I have longed her for five minutes or so, pet her neck and talked to her, and rode her in the round pen for about 20 minutes or so. Sometimes, she gets frightened when I close my legs on her sides, but she is quickly warming up to it.
Yesterday I rode her up to a small canter and the first two times she kicked out behind as if something was behind her. The third and fourth times cantering, she did well but broke down to a trot quickly.
I've also been working on doubling her right and left with the reins after walking and trotting. She does well with habit, so I've had to turn her around at unsuspecting places. She's not flexing her neck when turning, so I'll need to put a surcingle on her. In the meantime, I hopped off and tried to show her. I stood at her shoulder, pulled the left rein with my left hand and pushed her neck with my right hand. She flexed her neck around well. I did the same with the opposite side and kept repeating until she didn't resist. I remounted and she seemed to understand as I doubled her around again.
She's 50% Tennesee Walking Horse, and she has shown the running walk. She trots as well, but if I accelerate her slightly, she moves into this gait. It is very smooth and I'm looking forward to feeling it at longer distances.
We have not moved to the riding ring yet. Knowing her fear of other horses, we will probably start her by herself (as opposed to having a "security horse" in the front of the line). Until then, we'll continue to double her and practice cantering in the round pen. I want to make sure that if she bolts out of fear (even after good despooking sessions), I want her to respond to my reins.
02/20/07 - Steve caught Polar Bear this morning and we applied the surcingle. Before attaching the reins, we walked her to the round pen. She really needed this exercise as I saw when we attached the reins.
She was very scared of the long reins touching her back end. She mini-reared over and over again, forcing the reins over her hips instead of at the side. I tried leading her while Steve drove her around, but that seemed to make her more nervous while almost clotheslining me. For about 15 minutes she tried to turn around and face us, rear up, and bolt.
It was very obvious to me that she thought she was done for. After her rearing and turning session, she finally gave up and just stood still. I think she thought we were going to kill her. She wouldn't move at all. Even after all that bolting if the reins touched her back end, she just froze. It is normal for some horses to just give in and expect that death is inevitable, so it was a good chance for us to desensitize her to the long reins.
I'm sure she realized we weren't going to hurt her, so soon she returned to walking and performed very well. I was able to turn her against the wall of the round pen and keep her moving. She liked to stand still sometimes, but she didn't bolt anymore when I moved her to a walk. She finally understood what what to do and she wasn't scared of me being behind her (a really big step for her). The transition they go through to understand something is really amazing. You really can see when it clicks.
I continued doubling her against the round pen wall and for the last five minutes worked on "woah." She picked it up within two tries. If she can get past this fear of certain people and horses (which I really believe will happen), she has the potential of being a very good horse.
02/21/07 - I caught Polar Bear this morning without a problem. She is becoming so sweet. We applied the surcingle again and this time we didn't use it in the round pen. There's a dirt road leading up to the ranch with two fenced-in pastures on both sides of it. Steve and I walked her up and down this dirt road like we did yesterday in the round pen.
She still twitched at her back end when the rope touched her, but all she needed was a good rub-down to desensitize her again. It didn't take nearly as long to get her to respond.
I turned her right and left and stopped her at different places. She performed like we had practiced for weeks. She needs to work on stopping from a walk a little more quickly.
Since she picked this up nicely, I saddled her up and walked her to the round pen. I longed her a few times around and she cantered for a few steps.
She gave me a hard time mounting, which is good to know. I'll have to work on that a little later. Once I was on she really seemed to enjoy herself. She's no longer shaking under me with her head high, but she's walking and trotting with energy and willingness. Tennessee Walkers naturally carry their head higher than other breeds, but the way she's holding it now is much more relaxed than when I began.
There were a couple of times she would just start trotting when I didn't ask. Of course I won't always be pleased with that, but at this point in her training it tells me that she's enjoying herself.
She cantered well after a couple times around the pen. No problems arose. I definitely awarded a treat for that. Even better, she's cantering for longer periods of time, too. I can't tell you how I happy I am for her. She's really coming along.
02/22/07 -Today was rainy and I was about 15 minutes later than I usually am. Luckily, it was easy to catch Polar Bear and saddle her up. To make sure the saddle was snug, I longed her around me. Trying to move her into trotting, I leaned in toward her back legs. She did a little kick at me. To punish I vigorously moved her into a fast longe and switched directions a few times. I think she got the idea...
I tightened the saddle once more and moved her into the round pen. She's still moving around during mounting. So I stuck my foot in the stirrup while pulling back on the reins and jumping around in circles until she stood still. I said good girl and stepped back. She stood still when I put my foot in the stirrup the second time, but started moving when I stood up. I did the same thing and got off when she stopped. She didn't move when I mounted, but started moving when I put my leg over.
Once we got over that, she trotted around and even cantered, but I could tell she was a little more spooky than she was yesterday. I slowed her down to a walk until she relaxed (which took several laps around the pen).
I got her trotting to the right of the circle, but she would stop at the same place everytime. I would kick and kick and cluck and cluck but she wouldn't move. I doubled her twice and that seemed to work but when I arrived to that same spot, she would freeze. My goal was to have her trot around and around the circle until she was tired. It wasn't working. What finally worked was when I made her go around the circle the other way. I continued at a trot for several minutes until I had to go. She got off easy today!
02/27/07 -The round pen was muddy today. We couldn't do good work in there, so we worked in the dirt driveway. Before I mounted, I longed her for a while and worked on her stops. She remembered well.
I went out of town for the weekend, so I hadn't ridden her since Thursday. I mounted with no problem.
She was a little nervous I could tell, this being her first time out of the round pen with a rider. We didn't have much time so I just let her walk where she wanted to in the driveway (with a little guidance). She eventually relaxed. We didn't go up and down the driveway because the other horses were eating their hay and she could have spooked. I'd really like for her first time out of the round pen to be uneventful. We'll deal with the spooking later.
02/28/07 -Today was beautiful. I caught Polar Bear easily and saddled her up. I tied her to one of the fence posts and she accepted that well (some horses really don't like that).
She longed a couple of times and I took her to this straight dirt trail. Again, the horses were eating close to the driveway, so I led her to the trail. There's a thin line of trees on one side of the trail and a fence line on the other. It's a good place to canter for the first time because the straight line doesn't confuse the horse.
I led her from the beginning of our trail to the place where I would turn her around and back to the beginning again. This gets her familiar with where we were going to ride.
I mounted her with absolutely no problem. A good thing to keep in mind is to always mount while the horse is facing away from home. They want to go home, so Polar Bear could have taken off with me if she wanted to. They are less likely to bolt away from home when you mount. Of course after the horse is finished and experienced, they have no excuse but to stand still; I wouldn't accept anything less from those horses. But with new ones, it's best to be safe.
I rode her a few times up and down the trail. She was very curious, but it took her less time to relax than yesterday. The third time facing away from home, I asked her to trot. She just trotted well. I brought her to a stop and backed her up a step. She did wonderfully.
We walked on the way back. Just like mounting, it's important to take it easy when facing towards home. We didn't trot at all while facing home. It not only reduces the risk of bolting, but she needs to think about listening to her rider in every situation - even when she's excited.
Walking on the way back, one of our stud colts called to her by the fence line. She noticed it and walked a little faster, but it was no different than any other mare would behave. I was very pleased!!
Next time up the trail, she did her running walk for about 30 feet. I have never ridden a horse with that type of gait and I definitely felt it. It was so smooth and fast at the same time. Now I know why their are competitions for balancing glasses on your head while riding a gaited horse.
Next time up the trail, we cantered for six or seven strides, and broke down to a trot. She did very well - stretched out better than in the round pen, understandably.
A couple of times she would not walk forward (resistance to going away from home). I kicked her hard, but no obedience. I had to double her (turn her in circles) several different times to get her to walk, but she learned.
Our upcoming goals: Some more despooking, hard riding in the riding ring (enough to break a sweat), and riding in the woods with Comet (Steve's ride).
03/02/07 -After the clouds cleared, it was another beautiful day. I saddled Polar Bear and took her to the dirt trail (same as last time). I walked her up and down the trail to clear her mind.
After I mounted, I had to take her at a walk, up and down the trail several times because the wind was blowing and I could really feel her nerves. Every time I would walk back home, she'd want to trot or canter, so I had to turn her in circles to make her pay attention to me.
I trotted a few times away from home and I cantered her once. Steve, riding Comet, and Jonathan, riding Medicine Dog were about to start their ride. I dismounted to calm her down as they walked past us, and I followed them at a walk (I was on the ground leading her). After we did a lap, I mounted and followed them again. She did great. When we would turn to walk in the opposite direction, she would turn her haunches quickly because she was afraid of Comet. But hey, I'd be afraid of a horse that beat me up every day, too.
We finished with that, but I was still very pleased with her. Especially one, the wind was blowing, and two, she followed two horses.
03/03/07 -Saturday is usually a relaxing riding day for me (as opposed to the training during the week, even though that's fun as well) because I take a green-broken or well broken horse for a few long trail rides. I wasn't even thinking about Polar Bear until Steve mentioned that I should try her on the ride. I was more than happy to get her saddled up.
She was surprisingly relaxed around the other horses and people while I was saddling her. I didn't mount until we walked past the dirt road. She moved a little while I mounted, but I got up fine.
We stayed in the back of 4 other horses. I could tell she was very alert around the horse in front of her. Sundance would sometimes pin her ears at Polar Bear and she would obediently back off in response to it. I'm sure that quick obedience won't last, but it was interesting to watch her initial behavior.
We went through a lot of water and she was fine. Because she couldn't see the bottom, she'd paw at it before putting her weight on her foot. It was really adorable. Eventually she sped up and stopped the pawing.
When we entered the woods, she was very curious, but she wasn't shaking. All the horses trotted for a few steps and it was almost like she thought "Huh, what?"...."Oh, now I get it!"
We cantered once and there was no problem.
We took two more 45-60 minute trail rides. When we loped, she bucked once, but came out of it again into a canter (thankfully, she knows what "no" means!). We loped a second time and she bucked twice and with more force, but again came out of it well. When I say well, I'm not condoning that behavior, but I'm pleased that she obeyed my physical and vocal ques after the fact.
I realize now that when I was trying to get her to back off the horse in front of her by pulling back on the reins, I was confusing her. I'd certainly be confused, too!
Another funny thing was that she really wanted to play in the water! Since she had been taken away from the large herd, she hasn't had a pond in which to wallow! Seeing and walking in all the water brought back memories I'm sure. I think she would have laid down if I let her.
It was a good, good day for Polar Bear.
03/26/07 -We have since gone on many trail rides together. She had one opportunity to show me how she'll react to something scary. Deer in the field. She moved up in line quickly, but she responds so well with the reins that she was easy to stop. She's never tried to run away with me.
I can see a little stubbornness in her; she will plant her feet in the ground and "refuse" to go forward, but I just have to squeeze my legs and move her left. She'll move out after that.
She will also lead in the woods and in the trail. She will canter and trot to our heart's content and won't balk at logs like the others will. Amazing.
Recently, Steve, Brent, all the students and I built an obstacle course in one of the pastures. It has several one-foot jumps, a hill, a tire, a bridge, and barrels dug into the ground for jumps. Polar Bear would go over the bridge after a while, and would go over the jumps fairly well.
A week after I tried that with her the first time, she completed those jumps like they were no problem. She walked through the tire with me on her back, and over the bridge perfectly.
Also, an 11y/o, Lydia, rode her for the first time on Friday. Polar Bear was a little nervous at first, but I lead her by the buck rein up and down our dirt path until she became comfortable. Soon, I let Lydia loose and allowed her to trot and canter at her will. They both did very well.
The next day, I warmed Polar Bear up on the first ride, and Lydia took her on the second. Lydia led the line of horses most of the way, because Polar Bear wasn't scared of the weird trees that the others are. She's a very fast horse, and kept us at a good pace for most of the way. I'll say that she can take most any rider now.