Sunday, January 24, 2010

Racename XXX aka Chanel

3 yr old filly trotter. Won't turn/go the right way of track.
Jan 21. Off the truck and right to work.
Day 1: Wow. Doesn’t this bitch think she’s tough. Huge, and I mean huge, strong mare. First thing she did when I went to yield her hindquarters was come at me with both front feet. Ha ha, I was ready for her. Took her completely by surprise. Proceeded to work with her for about 45 minutes. One big plus, she just came in out of the field so she got tired quick. Those race-fit horses can fight for hours. Had her yielding and sending both directions with hardly any argument when I got done. She’s not stupid. Backed her up twice and that’s when I got the dropped head and the “lick & chew”. Ok, that was enough for the first day. Looking forward to tomorrow.
Day 2: Not so aggressive today, but tries to avoid doing what she's told. She's quickly figuring out, though, that it's easier for her to do as asked rather than fight about it. I'm standing at the center of the circle, she's on the outside. Who do you think is going to get winded first?

Stay out of my space is the first lesson you want to teach a horse, especially an aggressive horse like this. Again it's about being the herd leader, "stay out of my space!" They only come in when they are invited in. EX when handwalking, the horse should not be on top of you. That's why I like that 15' lead rope. If they feel good and want to play around, or if something spooks them, that's fine, just don't jump on top of me..do it over there.
Yield the hindquarters is the second. When I focus my attention on the hip, I want that hip to swing away from me.. which makes the horse face me. Never under any circumstances is that horse to swing his ass at me. Remember, I'm the herd leader.
Sending To make a horse move in the direction you want (for this example, counterclockwise circle around me): stand facing the horse. (Horse should be taught 1. Stay out of my space and 2. yield the hindquarters first). Lift left arm high and point to the left. Start applying pressure with your right hand (swing end of rope or tap whip on the ground) You may have to position yourself slightly to the right of the horse to get "behind" her.

In her case, because she aggressively came at me the first day, I use a regular training whip. The horse will normally start trying to turn and bolt. This is where the rope halter comes in, they can drag you with a regular halter, the rope one will stop them in their tracks. As long as the horse is facing you he can only "bolt" backwards and he can't get any power or make any speed that way. Let him back up but keep increasing the pressure" by means of tapping harder, with rhythm, and moving closer. (The only time she would actually get hit with the whip is if she came at me (invaded my space). It's her choice, she can stay out of range or she can attack me and suffer the consequences.)
Now here's the trick: as soon as the horse makes a movement in the correct direction IMMEDIATELY drop your arms (release the pressure) and leave her alone! Resist that urge to give her one last shot to "teach her a lesson". Usually the horse will take a few steps then stop. Just start again. Depending on how smart the horse is, most figure out pretty quickly if they move in the direction you are pointing, that pressure stops. Let them walk or trot around you, leaving them completely alone. DO NOT NAG! Only apply pressure if they stop. Make it their responsibility to maintain the command until you tell them to stop.

This is where patience and perseverence come in. I like to enforce the correct behavior verbally giving praise. "Good girl, that's all I wanted" in a soothing voice.

Day 3: Much better. Even though she's physically strong, she's still a little girl mentally. Lots of dropped head, attention focused on me, and licking and chewing. She tried one time to argue. Was trotting around me, all of a sudden planted the feet and tried to run back the opposite way. These attempts will happen, you want them to happen while doing groundwork so you can more easily correct it. Just yield the hindquarters so she's again facing you, point, pressure, release when she resumes correct direction/forward movement. She'll soon get tired of arguing, it only costs her more work. Clinton's mantra: make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult.

Biggest mistake I see harness people make. When a horse throws himself with all that equipment, plus probably the jogcart breaking, it makes for a huge fiasco. What does everyone do? Untangles everything and puts the horse back in the stall. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That horse is learning if he misbehaves, he gets rewarded! That's why you want to get this behavior dealt with on a lunge line. They can throw all the hissy fits they want, only makes for more work on their part. Practice simple exercises, ones that can be accomplished in an hour or two, then reward the success. Before you know it you have a willing partner looking to please you instead of a sullen sour pig.

Day 4: Introduced stepping over a pole. One wouldn’t think it would be a big deal, but to her apparently it was. Took about an hour to get it done.
Day 5: Another good day. Had her trotting over 2 poles.
Day 6: Introduced the carpet. She’s really getting cooperative. Smart mare. Took video of today's lesson. I want to set up situations where she will balk so we can work through it on the ground, without the jogcart. We'll work with the carpet for a few days, then find something else to test her.

I had to edit into 4 segments to fit the youtube 10 minute limit for clips. Entire session lasted a little over 30 minutes.










Day 7: Perfect example of being prepared to work through problems no matter what. Had planned an easy day since she did so well yesterday, but she was all revved up and in a fightin' mood. Should have had the camcorder on today. LOL She ended up doing what she was told. Every day she ends up hot enough to cooler, so she's getting plenty of exercise.

Spent the last few weeks reinforcing the basic groundwork. Switched the carpet for a bright blue noisy tarp. She went through a week of resenting what she was being asked but not knowing what to do about it. Eventually came around to starting to enjoy the exercises. Now incorporating a lot of aerobic conditioning with the groundwork, building her fitness level in prep for returning to the track when it opens Mar. 1. I anticipate she will be up to at least 3 miles by then.

Here she is 1 month later doing the groundwork.



Flagging was the icing on the cake. In getting her to submit to this I totally establish my control over her. Her first reaction was to strike out and try to turn and cow-kick. Make no mistake she is handy with those feet and she can fire. Took 3 days to work through it. This is a really great exercise, you can actually control and "play" with their emotions... push to the edge.. then back off. Slowly build by pushing that edge a little further, a little further. It looks simple, but there is a certain technique to it. If you were to force the issue, you could seriously traumatize them, blow their mind, and set yourself back weeks. I should have had the first day videotaped. After teaching this, I hadn't done it for about a week, this is how she responded when approached again.


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