Every horse I’ve ever known handles fear just a little differently. I’m sure you’ve noticed how your horse handles fear. I’m also sure he has shown you many times.

I had a beautiful illustration on my property the other night. May I add a safe illustration, involving 6 horses responses to a one simple scary source. A black Standard Poodle. Now we have dogs on the property. Their owners have dogs that visit. Several are Hunt Horses who have had 50 Hounds around their feet or running by them, but the Standard Poodle unhinged them.

One of the owners came to visit her horse after a dog training class. The dog, Anna, was an 8 month old 50 lb. Standard. They don’t do a Poodle Clip until they are a year old, so she was just a big black ball of fur. She had never seen horses before and was a little wary of all these large dogs, but also curious, so running up to them and checking them out, was not her idea of a fun thing to do. She cautiously stayed close to her owner and peaked around her legs.

Each horse reacted differently upon seeing her. All reacted with “what is that black mass of whatever walking in our yard?” The heads went up, the ears went up, and some snorting occurred. One horse put his head up, snorting, and pranced around tail flagging at a safe distance. His buddy had ears up but walked to the fence to get a better look. It was his owners dog but had never seen this dog before. I guess a closer look was necessary to determine the danger level of this unknown thing. The other gelding, in the next pasture, just decided to walk away and let the others handle this oddity. My girls turned there backs and walked quietly to a safe distance of 15 feet, turned around and gave it more thought. Slowly they walked back to get a closer look, no big thing. Upon seeing there might be a mint in it for them, they came up to the fence and accepted the peace offering. The strange ball of fur became nothing to write home to mother about. Not one of them saw it as a threat, no panic, no running to the opposite end of the pasture, just “what is that thing?” They all used their brains in a quiet, controlled manner. That’s really nice to know.

When we brought our Clydesdale mare home they all lined up at the fence, dropped their heads to the ground and watched her walk by with her feathers swaying. They were all fascinated by this white fluffy stuff floating around her legs.

I’ve had horses, that when confronted with a boogie man, left town, no questions asked, whoever was last was dinner. Then I had a little filly, who when seeing something odd, such as a burned out car in the woods, would run up to it and strike out at it. Anything scary became a target of her aggression. She never asked for permission to do this, I just was taken along for the ride. We were going to get, and kill this thing. She was going to protect and take care of both of us and rid the world of this danger.

I’ve seen horses in a total panic from fear, or others that just ignored the weird stuff. It’s nice to be on a horse that freezes and waits for you to say “its alright” or “let’s just leave quietly.” It’s even nicer to be on a horse that just ignores and continues on it’s way. As opposed to those that just take the bit in their teeth and head for the hills, with or without you.

We know that fight or flight is just born into them to save there lives. We know that some horses listen to this instinct more closely, and we know that some horses will take it into consideration but use their brains more. I just love watching horses actions or reactions. It speaks volumes as to who they really are, and how safe they can be.

I much prefer a horse that will use their thought process and listen to their rider instead of one who leaves and asks questions later. Yes instinct is strong in any horse, but I have gotten some really skittish horses, to stop, trust, and pay attention to me. It’s all in the “Trust” part of training. It’s safer for all involved. Had a horse once that would panic, turn and run head on into an on coming car. Not a good plan.

My suggestion for this week is to sit back, relax, and observe. You learn so much, and it’s very entertaining. As long as you are not on board the “loose horse”.

Fall is almost here for many of you. We are still with a heat index of 110 and horses that are getting their winter coats. This has been the most unbelievable summer in Florida ever.

We’ve all witnessed it in the stores. Children throwing themselves on the floor and screaming at the top of their lungs. Mothers totally embarrassed or just plain fit-to-be tied over their out of control toddler. They scoop them up into the air, some get a beating, some don’t. Some parents walk away and make believe they never saw the kid before.

Now I am no child expert by any means, but there is a break down somewhere, in the parent child relationship. Or there is a chemical imbalance in the child, I’m not going there. But there is a difference between a 15 lb. child who is throwing a fit and a 1000 lb. horse who is NOT happy.

We’ve all lived through horses who resist and just don’t want to do something. I don’t want to cross that puddle, I don’t want my saddle on, I don’t want to pick up my foot, and the ultimate one – I don’t want to get in that trailer. Usually they are very quiet about it. They just don’t want it and that’s all there is to it. Avoidance is their idea of getting away with the behavior. They will side step, back up, expand their belly. No major tramma or dramatics, just a quiet no thanks, not today. Maybe try me again tomorrow. We’ll see.

However, I have a horse with a different slant on “I don’t want to, please don’t make me do this.” There is always one in your life.

So here is the deal. He’s very reasonable about most everything. He may fling his ears back to tell you “I don’t think I like that” but no follow through. For instance, don’t bother me with my blanket while I’m eating. My response – get over it your getting your blanket on – like he never said a word. I usually just ignore him and go ahead with whatever I was going to do. When he sees I’m not paying attention to him, he just goes back to doing whatever he was doing that he didn’t want interrupted.

BUT this horse hates rain. Two drops and he’s up in the air, kicking, striking out, totally angry with whoever caused this to happen to him. Copper ignores him and goes to stand under a tree and Lou will bite him, push him, and blame him, that he is going to get wet.

So really, what chance do I have in this situation? I always try to get him in before it sprinkles. If it’s just going to be a passing spritz, I leave him out there to deal with it. However, if I know that we are in for a good steady rain, especially if there is going to be a lightening display, I try to get him in. With my luck it usually starts to sprinkle as I’m bringing him up. So let the games begin. I’m sure you’ve watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well you know those big balloons that float down the avenues during the parade? That’s what I have on the end of my lead line. Now on a windy day they keep them close to the ground or they don’t even let them fly. Here is Lou, all fours off the ground, striking out, kicking, and carrying on. Shaking his head like it stings him. I keep telling him that he is not going to shrink, or fade. He goes into the pond and wallows, but a few drops of rain makes him crazy.

I do put a chain across his nose, and sometimes in his mouth. He normally is very respectful of a chain from his track days, but rain puts him over the edge.

I’ve left him out in rains that came on quickly, he will throw his tantrum and when he looks like a drenched rat, he will go stand under a tree. Still totally angry that I didn’t do my job properly, but I will hear about it when I go down there. I just smile and nod and tell him he’s fine, and he will sulk off to another part of the pasture.

I don’t know; some peoples children.

Driving up my road the other day I saw a big yellow ribbon around a tree. Didn’t look to see if it was an oak, probably was. I had been thinking about ribbons lately and their meaning.

We all know about yellow ribbons, Red White and Blue, Pink lapel and many others. The lapel ribbons cross on the bottom, I’m sure you are all familiar with them, but I saw the best one on the Facebook the other day. It was in the shape of the lapel ribbons and it was specific for what is going on, it was made out of toilet paper. Yup that’s our new lapel ribbon folks. I laughed when I saw it, but it really isn’t funny at all. This pandemic has brought out the good in many people, but it also has shown the true colors of many people who are just out for themselves. I’m not going any further with this.

My thoughts on ribbons went in a different direction. Ribbons that have been won to signify our determination to be the best at whatever we do. We work hard, day after day, year after year, and hope for that blue ribbon. Whether it’s in a baking contest or at a horse show, it proves that our hard work and determination has paid off.

Sometimes we win the ribbon, sometimes the horse wins the ribbon, or sometimes it’s a combination effort.

Of course blue is our ultimate goal, to be the best at what we have done, but I’ve always told my students that it’s not the most important thing. The most important thing is that you and your horse have given it your all. If you’ve improved from the last time, good for you, you are a winner.

Ribbons are a mile stone. I have four ribbons, out of all of them, that are the most important to me, and only one of them is a blue. One is a fifth place ribbon that I got at my first horse show. Serious riding had been something that I longed for my whole childhood. Four months after I started my real lessons I went to my first show. Out of about a dozen kids, I got fifth. I had gotten there, I was a real rider. That pink ribbon proved it to me.

The next one on my list, I don’t even remember what color it was, I have a picture, but it was in black and white, doesn’t matter. I had my lunatic Thoroughbred at a Recognized show for an Open Jumper Class. On trying to get him to the In Gate he reared up and almost came down on the judges car. He reared all the way to that gate and even when he got through the gate. It was almost like a barrel race. When I got him going forward, something clicked and he was beautiful. The picture I have of us going over a fence, you could see my smile of joy and satisfaction. He was very talented, but even though there was a light on in his head, no one was home. Just being able to get him in the ring, over those jumps and place, the ribbon was blue to me.

The next ribbon was just pure fun. A bunch of us were at a horse show in Allaire Park, New Jersey (that’s for Nancy). They needed people to fill a pair class so they could hold it. My girlfriend had a dark dun gelding with a dorsal strip and zebra stripes on his legs. He was a big dude and they called him a flying box car, but boy could this horse jump. My mare was a light dun mare, and didn’t have the same big stride the gelding did. We were both dressed the same because that’s what you wore to a show back then. So we said, since they only had two teams, and they were looking for four, we would at least get fourth place, let’s do it. We worked it out that when we had to reverse, we would reverse in place so that my mare was always on the inside because her stride was smaller. We also worked it out that since I was on the inside, my friend would change her diagonal to always go up when I was going up. Well we got in there and all of a sudden it was a big class, and let me tell you those horses matched perfectly. It was both an English and Western class together. Pretty Paints and outstanding outfits. So my friend Kris and I decided we’d just have fun. They asked us to reverse three or four times just to figure out how we were doing that. We laughed and joked with the people on the rail. I still smile when I think about it. We just totally enjoyed ourselves and ended up with a second place. I’m sure the other teams that took it seriously must have been angry, but that just showed us that relaxing and having a good time with your horse means something, even to the judge.

My last favorite ribbon was a blue. I brought my buckskin baby Desert to his first show, just to get him used to everything. I figured I’d bring him in a walk trot class just to get him in the ring with other horses. I would let the stewards and judge know that I was not to be judged, that he was only in there for the experience. I guess he was maybe four or five at the time. Well once again they needed to fill a halter class. Bobby so wanted to bring Toy into that class he asked me to help fill the class so it wouldn’t be cancelled. Now I had always taught Desert to square up during our breaks in his lesson. He knew to stand perfectly still as I walked around him with his lead on the ground, but he had a slight clubbed foot, so once again I was just in for fun and schooling. I said okay, we can do this. Now Toy was a drop dead gorgeous Appendix Quarter Horse. Beautiful Bay with four white stockings and a stripe down his face, showing was very new to him and Bob. He had been raced, but I think Bobby and Toy had only been to one show before. That was an experience in itself. Bobby did a figure eight and never knew when to stop so he kept going until the judge finally stopped him. We go in, Desert stood like a perfect statue. Toy however wouldn’t stand still, neither did many of the horses, and there were many. Desert got first, I don’t remember what Toy got. Bobby was not happy with me. Toy, after that, got lessons on standing, and squaring up.

Just for the record. Desert and I went into the Walk Trot class and in the middle of the trot he stopped and peed. Everyone laughed including me and the judge.

My point to this whole long post is that it doesn’t matter the color of your ribbon. If you and your horse work hard and give it your best, any sign of improvement is always a “Blue Ribbon.”

Stay safe.

My one boarder moved her horse closer to her home. Her horse is sound and he needed more consistent work to finish his rehab. She was driving over an hour. With the time change her daughter couldn’t make it up here after school to ride anymore. So the move.

She has a whole new team at her barn. New owners, stable manager, trainer, and instructors, farrier, and vet. At my barn, I’m chief cook and bottle washer. However, she doesn’t trust them yet to make the right decisions about her horse. She went through hell and back trying to get this horse sound for the last four years.

The new stable manager asked all the right questions, so I felt good about it. I know one of the specialty vets that is seeing him today, I’ve used her and I trust her opinion completely.

Now you’ve got a bunch of people who don’t know this horse trying to find their way in the dark. I sent a letter with all his shots, feeding, and general information along with him, but you just can’t remember to tell them all his quarks. So yesterday the trainer asked to see him go. Now remember this young girl has not been riding him for several years. He’s green broke. After he was no longer in pain, I started working with him and the mother. We brought him along nicely until he rodeo bucked her off. Gave the daughter a couple of lessons on how I trained him and she was doing well. Until yesterday.

So I get a call from the mom yesterday, he rodeo bucked the daughter off. Well the trainer doesn’t want to get on him, and she wants to put him on a lunge line and teach him how to do up and down transitions. Well I was working with the mom and horse on those. I get it, but the more you work a horse on a lunge to get the bucks out, the stronger you make him, and the longer it takes to get the edge off. The mom said she mentioned that to the trainer and the trainer assured her that it was just to teach him to slow down and extend. I reminded the mom to tell the trainer that he’s high for about the first 10 minutes and then settles down. The best way to handle it is to ride him at a trot, breaking forward motion with small circles. It gets his attention back on you, and what he’s supposed to be doing.

BUT, I am no longer the trainer. When do I back off and let the new trainer do her thing. Yes I know the horse, but it’s not my place anymore. I know the mother said she was going to check with me before she let anyone do anything with him, but……… I’m not sure if the trainer is just trying to make a dollar and prove that she can train or what. I also know that this trainer is going to get annoyed that the mom is checking with me.

When the mom asked, what should I do? I told her to allow the trainer to lunge him. She’s not going to harm anything (I hope). She really needs to find out what this horse is all about, and she believes this is the safest way.

When he bucked the mom off, he was just feeling his oats. The trainer believes it was for the same reason, and I kind of wanted to agree. When he dumped mom he just stood there and looked for her, then walked over and nuzzled her. When he bucked the daughter off he took off at a gallop, went over a jump (that he didn’t have to) and the trainer caught him. He is a horse you have to be still on or he gets mad. The daughter isn’t always still on him, but the trainer doesn’t know his quarks. I hate horses being blamed for the riders mistakes.

So we’ll see where this leads. I need to fade into the background and let this trainer take over, but it’s hard to do when the mom keeps calling and checking with me. I am thankful that this woman trusts me so completely. It does mean that I did my job well and she appreciates it, but I also fear that this horse, and these people will show up at my gate some day. It’s an hour drive through heavy traffic for a girl who just got her license last week. Not a good thing.

Hopefully she will learn to trust the new trainer and others at the barn. I laid a good foundation, now let the next person bring him to the next level.

It’s not going to be that easy because the mom wants to come up and take a lesson with me next week. Oh my!

I’ve had to of written on this before, but I can’t find it. So I’ll do it again.

Okay, now let’s review how a horses mind works. “Fight or Flight?” It’s born into every horse. Did you know that people are born with this instinct too? I never thought about it until it was called to my attention by my Pastor just recently. When we are scared, just like our horses, our body sends out adrenaline too. It’s automatic. To get us out of bad situations. God is so thoughtful.

Now in order for a horse to run from danger they need to have an escape route. Therefore, when a horse is contained there is no way out. This leads to a lot of trouble. It is dangerous for the horse, but can also be dangerous to a person close by. I’ve seen doors torn off, walls and fences broken, and anything in a horses path destroyed. We seem to forget just how powerful a horse is.

So let’s think about loading a horse into a trailer.

In the early 1970’s my friend had a horse who would not load, period. He either had a very bad experience or was just afraid of confined spaces. Some people are too. She had to move her horse to a new barn and it was too far to ride him over, so one of my mentors said that he could load any horse. Actually he bet us that he could do it. This was way before all these new trainers were even born. We took his bet. We waited patiently at the barn for him to arrive, and to let the games begin. Other, so called old time horse trainers had tried to no avail. So what does my friend show up with??? A pick up truck with a make shift stall in the bed. Now back when I was a kid very few people had horse trailers. You wouldn’t believe what people hauled horses in. We hauled ponies in the back seat of cars. Just took the seat itself out and put the ponies in. The back of the “stall” in the pick up would become a ramp. It was steep, but it worked. Don’t you know that this dang horse loaded the first trip up this ramp. My friend closed the ramp up and declared himself the winner.

Now to us this looked really scary. To the horse, it was just fine. He was looking around, enjoying the view. Trailered to the new barn with no problem.

So what made the difference? He could see. He didn’t feel closed in.

Now my friend came to trailer one of the horses from my barn last week. She uses her horse trailer weekly and her horse has no problem getting into her trailer. The two horses she was trailering, one from her barn and one from mine, had a whole different idea about this trailer. Her trailer is set up with a tack room in front and one at the rear doors. Mine does too, but we don’t use the back tack room. Ours is slid flat against the wall. You have this one narrow door for a horse to walk into the somewhat dark unknown. They didn’t buy into it. The horse from her barn took 45 minutes to load. Now the owner felt bad because she told the woman that her horse was an easy loader. Well in another open trailer he probably was, but you were asking a big warmblood to load through a narrow door into the unknown. The horse from my barn loaded easy, but on the way home neither would get back into that trailer. They finally did, but did this woman give it any thought as to way this all happened?

When my friend, years ago, explained to us why the horse (who never loaded into anything) got onto the back of this pick up, he explained that it was light, open, airy, and that’s why the horse loaded. He said always make sure that the trailer is light inside. Open all the windows and doors that you could. Make it feel inviting, not closed in, and they will load.

Now the friend who picked up the horses last week is a knowledgeable horse woman, her horse loaded so why shouldn’t every other horse. Well they just have different ideas about what is safe and what is a tiger trap.

The darkness on the inside of a trailer can be more of a problem if you have a horse that is coming from extreme sunlight into a dark trailer, especially if the horses eyes don’t adjust to the light and dark. I have one now that won’t walk into his stall if the light isn’t on or I don’t lead him in. He’s not that old, but his owner told me, when she moved him here, that he had a sight problem.

He’s also not fond of flashlights, a lot of horses aren’t. They don’t get the light dancing around on the ground or in the air for that matter. Quickest way to spook some horses is to snap on a flashlight at night.

So no matter what you are trying to do with a horse, always make it inviting. Let whatever person the horse trusts, extend the invitation. If the owner believes the horses isn’t going to do it, it won’t. You need someone with quiet confidence to load a horse. It may take a little longer if the horse doesn’t know or trust the person, but they will follow a true leader.

Sometimes horses are just too smart. They figure out what you are going to do, and try to help you get it done. We think it’s cute, but it can be very dangerous.

My one boarders horse is a quick thinker. He knows the routine and is right there with the answer. “I can do this!”

It’s wonderful when they see you coming with the hoof pick and pick their foot up for you, before you ask. It’s not such a good idea when they try to help you remove their bridle or halter. This particular horse, the minute you put your hand on the crown piece will rip his head out of the halter. If your not careful, your fingers go with it. I’ve been refusing to remove it until he stands quietly and allows me to do it. Same thing with the fly mask, and I’ve seen him try it with the bridle. This presents the problem of the bit hitting him in the teeth. You always have the chance of getting slammed in the face, depending on what you are trying to get accomplished.

When I remove their blankets, over their heads, they want to help too. They fly backwards. If they get caught in anything, you have a blanket chasing a horse all over the pasture or stall. They shred them very nicely. Make them stand quietly. Their bucket, with grain in it, is a good incentive.

My favorite line is “Just Let Me Do It And We’ll Get Done A Lot Quicker!” They just don’t believe me, most times.

I love when they just drop their heads and slide their noses into the blanket when you are putting it on, and just drop their heads and let it slide down their necks to remove it.

Then, which I’ve mentioned before, I have Zoey who wants to help you open the gate, and close it. Usually on another horse, dog, or person. Her “I know how to do this” attitude is cute, sometimes helpful, and sometimes not.

They have to remember that you are in charge of the decisions as to when and how things are going to be done, and wait for you to ask for their assistance. Helping is cute until you end up in the hospital with broken fingers with, as my friend calls them, fish hooks sticking out of the sides. She said she learned her lesson, but at what price? No barn time for over a month because they were afraid of infection into the bones.

Remember, you are the alfa mare. They always give to the alfa mare. Make them chill and wait for you to do things, or give them the signal. As you get older, all the injuries that were caused to our fingers, and didn’t notice, come back to haunt us big time. You get a combination of swelling, arthritis, and fingers that lock and you have to open them with your other hand. I pull a weed, unlock my fingers, pull another weed, unlock my fingers, ……… Yes according to by acupuncturist it’s caused by closing our fingers hard on our rains to stop all those horses that had no mouths when we were kids, or have them tight on a lunge line as the horse is dragging us around, but either way, they don’t work so well anymore. At the time it was happening, we didn’t think anything of it, but we do now in our 70’s. I can still type and play the piano because they like to be bent, it’s straightening them out that is the problem.

Always remember, you are in charge, crooked fingers and all.

Bob made it through his back surgery with flying colors. Now to get my life in order again.

******

It doesn’t matter what you call them, horses come with them.

I love when they come in with a wardrobe, shot records, Coggins, and paperwork that is filled out with all the information you could possibly want. But when they come with baggage or skeletons from their past lives, Oh My!

One of my boarders new horses is beyond wonderful. He will jump anything and clear it by two feet. His knees come up to his nose, and he uses his back beautifully. She told me she finally found the hole. You mount him and he takes off bucking. I asked if he was in pain and she said, not that she can find. She believes it’s a learned habit. She didn’t tell me about this until she fell off the other day. After picking her body up off the ground and bringing him to the barn, she lost her temper when taking his bridle off, he bolted and took her finger with him. Surgery was the other day and the horse is now off to a cowboy for some training to work the bugs out while she’s healing. She doesn’t board that horse with me (he’s at a show barn), only her retired horse. She never mentioned his little attitude problem before now.

She worked through a ton of problems with the horse that stays with me. She has a habit of buying the rejects and fixing them. The horse I have here is very reasonable, but still keeps you on your toes. He likes to push the envelope and see what he can get away with. It’s actually his way of getting attention. Imagine that. You know, negative attention is better than no attention. How many children have I dealt with that problem. But it’s a game between the two of us and I always come out the winner. Luckily he tips his hat and admits defeat. Like I said, it’s a game.

Why do people work around bad behavior? If she had addressed this issue in the beginning she wouldn’t have hardware on her hand where jewelry should be.

Got another new boarder in last week. You want to talk about a whole list of issues. He was abused. I don’t even know where to start with all the skeletons. The owner felt sorry for what he had been through, and chose to be gentle and work around them. I, on the other hand, choose to deal with them and help him move into a more calm, happy, secure life. He is not trusting, but I see a change in him only after five days. I know he will never forget his previous life, but I hope we can learn to trust each other enough to work through the baggage he’s been carrying all these years.

I worked through this with another horse. Yes he sometimes reacts, then realizes he doesn’t have to, but it’s all good now.

People do the same thing. It’s so sad. It’s so freeing to let go and just enjoy what time we have left.

This new horse will probably afford me many posts. I hope they will all be positive. Because of an injury he is finished as a riding horse, but will live out his life in a safe place, hopefully full of happy memories from now on.

If your horse has an issue, deal with it, start right now. No animal, or person, should live with all this stuff hanging over them. The first thing you must do is find out the root cause. Always eliminate the possibility of pain. Horses will project fear or anger if they know whatever you are going to do will cause hurt. Ever try and remove a bandage from a child, or an adult for that matter? They know it’s going to sting and they react in many ways. The anticipation is worse than the removal. If it’s a fear problem, teach them to first trust you. If they believe that you will protect them, then they can depend on you not to let anything else hurt them. If it’s an aggression problem, you must work through this situation, with the proper energy of course (anger is not an option), and let them know that this is not a good choice. Be gentle, yet firm, demand obedience from your horse. If you don’t, it could be dangerous to both you, the horse, or anyone else around. Remember, respond, don’t react.

Time for a little late “Spring Cleaning”. Get the old baggage and skeletons out of those closets. It allows so much more room for fun and good times, for everyone involved.

Still haven’t found my spelling and grammar check.

One of my new boarders asked the other day – “How is my horse doing?” My reply “good, he’s training me very well.”

After I said that to her I got to thinking. They really do try to train us. So do our dogs. Cats don’t really care if we’re trained or not.

The first few weeks a new horse comes in I just try to observe them and gradually get them accustomed to the routine around here. What time they get to eat is always a biggie. If they are used to eating at 4:00 p.m. convincing them that dinner isn’t served here until 8:00 p.m. is not an easy thing. Since I feed on an every 12 hour schedule, they just don’t get it. Most barns do it to make it easier on the staff who want to go home themselves for dinner. Being that they either have pasture or hay in front of them at all times, they have to learn that they are not starving to death if dinner isn’t there at 4:00.

So this horse tried the retraining theory on me. Didn’t work. Then while I was in the barn making grain up for the meal’ he tried galloping the pasture to hurry me along. He figured I’d run out and give him his food first. Not! He was brought in and put on the cross ties to watch me make up the grain and then we both walked quietly out to be fed.

You always have those that push you or the bucket to get you to dump it faster. Not! They get backed up and taught that they wait patiently and when they are quiet, I will dump it. If they paw at the stall door, the bucket sits out side the door and everyone else gets fed until they are finally quiet, and then I come back and feed them. They learn that any noise, like pawing or kicking, brings me out of the feed room without a bucket, and when they are quiet life is good. Oh those tiny love nips to get my attention back on them. Not at my farm. I bite back (with a pinch of my fingers).

Being quiet on the cross ties gets you a carrot. Impatient on the cross ties brings out the lunge whip. You never have to use it. Just the sight of it makes them stand at attention. They get the message really quick.

Dogs can try to train you too. None that I’ve ever had like the JR I have now. I now no longer have to sit on the floor with her. It worked when I wanted to sit on the floor and watch TV, but it gave her the control she wanted. Slowly I am still trying to convince her that I am the pack leader. She has been quite a challenge. Every 15 seconds I get, woof I want to get up on the bed, woof I want to get down. Okay she’s short and she wants to lay with Bob while he watches TV. The getting up I get because she is short, but if you want to get down, Jump!, you’re a Jack Russell terrorist. Now if I’m in the shower she sits there and does her woof thing. News flash! it’s not working, I’m not coming out.

Most of the time we don’t think about being the pack leader or the lead mare. We’re not even aware of the fact that they are training us so well. Watch their actions and how you respond. You might need to make some adjustments.

Wasn’t there a program on TV called “Charles In Charge” and “Who’s The Boss?”

So who really runs your barn or house?

I had so many titles to pick from I couldn’t decide which one I wanted. “Cinderella at midnight” A little bit of knowledge” or the one I chose. This title is a more positive and constructive start to this post.

A little bit of knowledge can become so dangerous. Someone sees something that works with one horse and thinks they can apply it to another. Then add it being a strange horse and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. All I can do is sit here and shake my head.

Okay, here’s the set up. My friend and her teenage neighbor trailered to the other side of the forest for an afternoon trail ride. They had a good time and it was getting close to dinner so they went to load and go home. Well the neighbors horse wouldn’t load. (Let me say right here I do not know the trailer or the horse, nor the teenager either. That’s my disclaimer for this story.) So they tried for two hours to load this horse. A person riding by stopped and asked if they needed help. They accepted her offer and they put a rope behind the horse and it pretty much sat down and still didn’t get into the trailer.

So my friend says to me. I didn’t want to run a chain through this horses mouth, it’s not my horse. Say what!!!!!! Yes she saw me do that with the OTTB she had sold a year ago. I knew the horse. I knew the horse had been on the track. I knew I didn’t have to use the chain. The horse just dropped his head and followed me onto the trailer with a slack lead line. I saw the vet use it on the horse when she was doing something. All she did was put it in his mouth and he dropped his head and let her proceed. She explained it’s an old track thing and if it’s been done before you didn’t even have to make contact, they just relax and go with the flow. Now this woman thought about doing this to a horse she barely knew. If it was an OTTB it might have worked, or maybe not. If they applied pressure the horse could have panicked and hurt them, hurt himself, or flipped over backwards. The rest of the story is that my friend loaded her horse and brought him home because it was getting dark. Her husband came to the site and walked with the girl, through the woods, to get the horse back to her barn.

So I just put out that they needed to feed this horse in the trailer for a week and get him to like being in there. Well she said that the owner told her that he wasn’t food oriented and that she had suggested that. I said, “well then the horse just doesn’t trust them, and doesn’t respect them, and until he does, nothing is going to work.”

So she then tells me that they are going to do positive training. They are going to load him at home, take him to the same place, and then the young girl will ride him home. Hello????? Yup that’s positive training for sure. You’re positively training him that he doesn’t have to load to go home. Her response – I didn’t think of that.

Once again. Every time you work with a horse you are either reinforcing a good habit or a bad habit. Oh my.

No comment.

Okay, I’ve already lost this one too.

Horses don’t always hold on to things they’ve been taught, or do they? As some people have selective hearing, horses sometimes have selective remembering. You’ve been there, conversation goes…… Rider – I taught you this last week, or we went down this trail yesterday, or you passed that rock every day of your life, what do you mean the boogie man lives behind it? Horse – I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you crazy? You want me to do what????

But there are things that happen to them that leave a lasting impression. Especially when the fight or flight instinct kicks in. They will remember anything they perceive as a threat to their life. Then comes your part where you have to convince them that you will protect them and, whatever it is, won’t hurt them. Not always an easy thing to do.

I’m dealing with several of those issues right now. Had an Equine dentist assistant whip my horse into a dental trailer. I’ve mentioned this before. She hesitated, he hit. There was no need for that. She always would load with no problem. Well it is a problem now. She will load, but not as easily as she used to.

Then there is the Intranasal Flu Vaccine. They all hate it. They have come up with a mist now which is supposed to be easier. Someone needs to convince my horses of that. Just when I start being able to worm this one horse it’s time for a flu mist and we’re back to square one with “your not getting anywhere near my nose ever again.” He just doesn’t get the concept of I’m heading for his mouth, not his nose, and the vet does the flu, not me. Someone roughed him up over the years and he’s not letting go of that thought.

Residual effects don’t go away easy, bet you’ve personally found that out once or twice.

So what do we do? Stay calm, be consistent, and be persistent. Be patient, proceed when you have plenty of time to work through the problem. Keep a calm energy, be soothing (if it’s frightening), and be firm (when it’s just resistance). They are like children waiting to see who gives in first.

It wouldn’t hurt to bring a drink, lunch, and sometimes, a sleeping bag. Only kidding, but I have brought a drink. When you feel you are tensing up, and your adrenaline starts pumping, stop. Drop your energy level to you toes, take a deep breath, relax, and start again. The more uptight you get, the less chance you have of success.

I’m always surprised at how long I can out wait a horse. Since by nature I am not a person of patience. However, with horses I am.

Remember when you were a kid (yes baby goat), and your mother wanted you to sit at the table until you finish something you hated to eat. Eventually you would fall asleep at that table, and your mom would let you go? Well don’t give in. You are stronger than your mother. You learned from her.

The key things to remember are time, patience, calmness, and determination. Never hurts to mention this again.

Still can’t find my grammar and spell check, use your imagination.