I can say things over and over again, but they still need to be remembered over and over again.

When working with a horse on a new thing, whatever it might be, take it slow and if it doesn’t progress, go back to the beginning or where it did work, and start again.

With this world of instant we want everything “Now!”  Instant Oatmeal, instant communication, instant answers, instant replies.  Horses have not joined this realm of instant, except of course when it comes to their meals.  When they see you coming to the barn at feeding time, they don’t want to wait their turn, they want it now.  Kind of sounds like Bob.  Six o’clock, is dinner ready?

But with training, we’d like to wake up one morning and our horse will be fully trained.  I’m kind of like that with house cleaning.  I want to wake up in the morning and the good fairies would have been there and my house would be sparkling clean.  When my grandchildren were little they would come running to me in the morning while I was still in bed.  They would tell me that the good fairies never showed up and things looked like they did the night before.  Guess we’re cleaning today.  When Linda was about four years old, she would come into my house, run to the cabinet under the kitchen sink, get the bottle of Windex and head for the sliding glass door.  There were always dog nose prints to be removed.  She was at the right height.  Wonder what kind of house keeper she turned into?  She never stays in one place long enough to check it out.

So while attempting to find out how my friends TB felt about jumping, what I did find out is that he doesn’t understand or want to try to learn.  He’s over sixteen hands with long legs.  He’s chicken, and if he stubs his toe, he carries that leg in the air for way too long.  Sissy.  It was only six inches.

So it’s back to square one.  Ground poles, time, and patience.

Inch by inch, step by step.  I just hope I live long enough to see him accomplish this death-defying feat.

I remember that show from when I was a kid.  How family dynamics have changed since then.  I’m not going into that because that will open a whole can of worms.

We have knowledgeable horse people and we have horse owners.  That’s not saying that horse owners are not knowledgeable, but it is saying that professional horsemen/women aren’t always right.  Let’s look at that for a moment.

You have professional horsemen/women who are very knowledgeable in their fields.  They have more years of experience than you have lived.  When we deal with them we believe that they will make the right decisions.

Then we have the horse owner.  Now this person may not have the years of experience, but if they have half a brain, they know their horse.  They understand their horse and their horse understands them.  Now I’m not saying that every horse owner has a corner on the market of how to handle a given situation, but they usually know how their horse is going to react.

They may not have the bag of tools needed or the aggressive behavior to give their horses confidence to move forward on an issue, but they have the clues to right a situation.

Now I will give a professional the benefit of the doubt when going to do something with one of my horses, but I’m not a stupid person, and I do know my horses.  I’m not asking them to submit to my way of doing things, but I do expect them to check with me as to what will work with a particular horse.

My one mare was balking about getting into a Equine Dentists trailer.  Nothing bad, just hesitating and moving from side to side.  She’s usually an easy loader.  She was concerned about what was going on.  Why were these strong-willed men trying to make her go into a trailer with all this stuff in it?  Were they going to take her away from her home?  Why were all the other horses running around in their pastures?  All this was making her hesitate.  I had my other horse in my hand and said I will put her in the round pen and come and lead my mare into the trailer.  While I was walking away, the one man took a crop to her butt.  She got in, but at what cost?

Now I know this mare, and she will remember.  I also know she will get even.

I didn’t understand why they had to be macho and do it their way when if I just spoke quietly to her, assured her that it was okay, and asked her to follow me in, she would have done it.  Maybe not quickly, but cautiously, with no added stress.  As it was she was tranquilized, then again when she balked, but by the time we got her into the trailer she had chicken eyes, and I told them that if they wanted to work on her they better hit her again.  There was no softness to her eyes, only fear.

I don’t care how much you think a professional knows.  I can only hope that their ego will let them check with the owner and get clues to what the owner may know about their own horse.

I will mention this to these two gentlemen, about my feelings on what took place.  I did not go into it at that time because I would have reacted out of anger and disappointment.  I know that they are on a time schedule and they can’t play games, but give the horse a chance to have a good experience so that next time there won’t be a hesitation or a fight.  Use this as a good learning experience for the horse.

I spent a lot of time talking to them.  They were indirectly testing me on my knowledge and how strong and determined I felt on various subjects.  I listened to their views, and expressed and backed up mine with facts.  Dug my heels in and stood my ground.

Thinking back afterwards, this mare had been done in a dental trailer before.  Perhaps it was a previous experience that made her react the way she did to them.

******

I have contacted the dentist who did apologize for his assistants actions.  The gentleman was just filling in for a new assistant who will be joining the group in a week.  He assured me that it would not happen again.  I mentioned to him that whenever we have contact with a horse we are either teaching or reinforcing something good, or something bad.  But then you’ve heard me say all this before.

I’m a Libra, you know, the scales.  So it seems every situation in my life I weigh.  I used to make lists with the good on one side and the bad on the other.  Reasons to do things and reasons not to.  (Should that be two oo’s?)  English was not my strong point in school.  Neither was Math, History, Science…… you get the picture.

So my friend with the Thoroughbred, who was having another love/hate day, was at it again last week.  I’ve mentioned he’s a real sweet boy, but still a young TB.  He was spending a lot of time doing airs above ground, cracking his back, and doing hand stands.  It was one of those feel good days.  Now she has been working with him, and when he’s focused he does pay attention and retain.  But it was one of those cool, brisk, kick you heels up, windy kind of days.  I noticed he was on the muscle when I moved him and his friend to another pasture.  I thought, “okay, you’re a horse that is happy and healthy now, have a nice day, and walked away.”

However, ten minutes later his owner shows up expecting the quiet well-behaved horse she left here the day before.  Not!!!  By the time I got back to the barn from the pasture, she had him outside cross tied on the wash rack.  He was prancing and dancing around, it was like he was standing on burning coals.  I told her to bring him in the barn.  She told me that’s where she started, but he was doing the same thing so she thought she would bring him outside so he could see things.  He wasn’t seeing anything, he was inside his head, and his brain was like the flashing lights of a pinball machine.  She tried her normal calming sounds and touches.
At this point he’s spinning around on cross ties.  She tried a stud chain to get his attention.  I told her to cut her losses and turn him back out, she wasn’t going to ride him today, not on my watch.

At that point she was still trying to get his attention to walk him outside.  He wasn’t even interested that I was walking his best friend right there with him.  He was just getting more agitated.  So I was done watching this nonsense.  I told her to give him to me and I walked them both back out to the pasture and turned him loose.  He did just what I thought.  He spun and bucked and took off across the pasture.  She panicked because she saw that kick come too close to me.  I knew he was going to do that, he knew exactly where he was and I was, and never extended his legs.  I did back away in preparation.   At that point I told her that it’s not that she did anything wrong and I did something right, it was a matter of the familiar routine.  A matter of the difference of her energy and mine.

So today we sat and talked.  Today she’s into selling him again.  “He’s not the quiet trail horse I wanted.  I thought I could turn him around.”  Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn’t.  We get back to “natured vs nurtured.”  Who he was at birth and what life has done to him.  So I told her she had to weigh all the good thing she likes about him and then the bad things she doesn’t like.  I asked her what she was willing to give up?  Would circles in a ring be alright or is trail riding what she really wants.  She needed to see which out weighs the other.  I know she loves the horse.  She saved him, fixed him, and wants the best for him.  Then I told her there was a compromise.  She could keep him, get the horse she pictured in her mind, and bring them both home so she wasn’t paying double board.  I told her she had to go home and think about what matters most.

Now I know he’d make a fantastic hunt horse.  He’s brave, got a brain, when he doesn’t misplace it, and he’s great with dogs running around his legs.  His problem is he needs a job, and she isn’t physically capable of giving him what he needs.  According to Bob “a good long run full-out.”  But then that’s what Bobby and Toy always needed.

I’m glad it’s her decision.  He’s a sweet boy and I don’t want him to end up in a bad home again.   I’ll miss him, but he needs a life.  She saved him, we fed him, adjusted every bone in his body, got his feet in good condition, and showed him there were people who would take care of his needs.

So now I wait for an answer.  Does he stay?  Or does he go?  It’s up to her.  I mentioned, when she got him, he was not the right horse for her.  With her physical problems she cannot do for him what he needs.  No matter how many times I’ve tried, you just can’t fit a square peg in a round hole, or teach pigs to sing.  It just wastes your time and annoys the pigs.

It’s like a Carousel.  You just keep going around in circles, but at some point you have to jump off.

My friend was tacking her horse up to lunge him the other day.  I sat on the bench and looked at her and the horse.  “Are you going to ride him today?”  Her answer was “no, just lunge.”  So I sat and thought about it for a little.  He’s a schooled horse,  needs to be reminded every once in a while like the rest of them, but he knows his stuff.  “Then why did you put a bridle and saddle on him?”  Her answer was “to try out this new bit.”  “Okay, let’s think about this.  You’re going to lunge him, but your hands are not going to be on the reins.  How will you know what his reaction is going to be to the bit?”  It stopped her and she thought.  Her reply, “I’m not.”  “Okay, why the saddle?  He’s broke, been ridden for years. ” Her reply, “I guess there is no reason.”

We do so many things without thinking of the reasons behind what we are doing.  Because it looks more professional?  Makes us look like we know what we are doing?  It looks prettier?  Or we just didn’t think of the purpose behind it.

So still sitting on the bench I asked her a few questions.

• Why are you lunging him to begin with?
• What is your goal.
• What are you trying to accomplish by putting the bit in his mouth?
• What are you hoping to accomplish with the saddle?

So I went into my song and dance.  Whenever you are going to do something with your horse, whether it be training or just riding, you need to have a goal and a purpose.  Nothing is random.  You are either teaching or reinforcing something new and good, or something bad.  Before we do anything we must have a clear view on the goal and how best to achieve it.  With her being a fitness instructor she had a light bulb moment.  Oh! it’s like work!  When I prepare to teach I always ask myself.

• What am I hoping to accomplish with this exercise?
• Is it the best way to accomplish what I am trying to do?
• What are the risks?
• If not this, how can I progress to make it harder or modify it to make it easier if necessary to help some one accomplish this particular exercise?

With this I smiled and told her, yes! now apply your work program to your horse.

Sometimes we just can’t see the forest for the trees.

It seems like too much work to think about this all the time.  We just want to throw the saddle on and go.  By all means go ahead, but be a thinking horseman at the same time.  Stretch your knowledge and ability by being conscience of what you are doing and what you would like to accomplish.  It certainly will take your mind off the stress of the day, and at the same time put you more in tune to your horse.  Do I consciously think about this all the time?  No but I end up, probably in my unconscious mind, doing it anyway.

We do so much with and around our horses that has just become second nature, we don’t even realize what we do and why we do it.  Pay more attention to you, you are better than you think, and you are worth it.

Yup, it’s a New Year.  A year fresh, with a clean page to start everything over again.  A chance to get it right this time.

In my Children’s lesson, this past Sunday, we talked about Horton the Elephant who made a promise to Maizie the bird to sit on her egg.  For those of you who never read the story, Maizie was tired and bored sitting on her egg and wanted to go to Florida on vacation.  I’d rethink that right now because it’s snowing in the northern part of Florida and is going down to freezing here in Central tonight.  But unlike you in the frozen north, we are going to be back up to the 70’s by the weekend.  It’s really a shock to your system, since it was in the 80’s before Christmas and now it’s going down to freezing.  At least when it’s cold up north it stays that way for months.  By the way, I’m so sorry that the rest of the country is in a deep freeze.  With horses, or having to deal with other animals outside, it really stinks.  But I’m getting off track.

Now Horton made this promise, and he keeps his promises.  What kind of egg it was, was never mentioned, but I assume that he started sitting there in the spring, through the summer, and into winter since he had icicles hanging from his trunk and his feet.  Okay, picture a nest, with an elephant sitting on it.  Well it takes a children’s book to make this happen.

Of course we know that the point of the book was to teach children about keeping a promise, and my point was that God keeps his.  It’s brought to life with Noah and the Rainbow, God’s promise never to flood the whole earth again.

So what better way to start a year than with an Elephant and a Rainbow,  AKA a New Years Resolution.

Oh those dreaded resolutions.  This year I’m going to lose weight, go to the Gym, etc.  You know, the ones we never keep, even though they are intended to keep us fit and healthy.

So yesterday, as I’m out in the pasture, trying to get a blanket on a flighty Thoroughbred, with a North wind that felt much like a tornado, I’m thinking…. this is really dangerous.  Or as I’m trying to wrap a horses leg in the middle of a pasture while she’s snorting and bouncing around, …this is really dangerous.  Aaa duh!!  Time for a New Years Resolution stupid.

Now I know better, but sometimes common sense leaves me.  No I was quite aware that what I was doing is not what I would teach a student to do, but when it’s cold, and you’re in a hurry, you just say – “oh I’ll just do it this one time.”  Or as I was squeezing between a wall and a horse last night to straighten a blanket….  “What are you thinking?”  Yes I know the horse, she’s mine, yes I raised her from a baby and she’s a good girl.  It only takes something stupid to happen and you’re on the way to the emergency room.

So my New Years Resolution is to heed my own advice and stay safe.

We break resolutions because they are promises we make to ourselves.  Now I won’t break a promise if I make it to someone else, that’s just plain rude.  Why then, am I not as important as anyone else?

So if you made a resolution to spend more time with your horse (this is good for your peace of mind), to take down all those cob webs (this gives you a feeling of a job well done), to clean your tack and oil it more often (this could keep you safe if you notice a problem), treat yourself like you would treat others, keep those resolutions, you’re worth it.

Have a wonderful, healthy, safe, Happy New Year! from our farm to yours.