The Pay-off

Gambler and I are at that point where all of our hard work is starting to pay off. He was wonderful today! We got to the barn with about two hours of daylight left, maybe a little less, which is plenty of time. I set up the arena and brought Gambler in. He went through this phase a few weeks ago, where he would run away when I tried to catch him. I started just chasing him up to the barn. He would let himself be haltered there (he wanted his grain).Yesterday he wouldn't run back to the barn. Apparently he has decided it's better to let me catch him. I'm not complaining.

Gambler has excellent manners in his stall and going through gates. One of my biggest pet peeves is when horse owners let their horses push through gates and stall doors. 

His leading has come a long way too. I need to lead him more on the off side, because he prefers his near side. Notice that he is mirroring me by using the same leg I am. 

First, I did some desensitizing. I threw the stick and string over his back at the halt and then at the walk. He is still nervous at the walk, especially on his off side; but his reaction was better today than it was yesterday, which is encouraging. In the video, you can see a clear difference in my energy and body language between when I am tossing the string over his back and when I am asking him to go forward.

It was very windy today, so somebody was feeling frisky.

Second, I attached the 22' line to Gambler's halter. I flipped the line over to the other side of his body, wrapped it around his hindquarters, and asked him to give to pressure in order to untangle himself. The first couple of times he didn't understand. I've done this exercise before, but it has been a long time. Obviously, Gambler didn't remember how it went. Then I gave him the cue to yield his hindquarters while pulling on the rope. Once he started to unravel himself, he figured it out. 

Third, I attached the gaming reins to the halter and did some one-rein stops on the ground. I also asked him to disengage his hindquarters, which he is beginning to figure out. 

And here are a few gorgeous artistic shots. Have I mentioned that my brother is a fantastic photographer?

Fourth, I brought Gambler over to the mounting block and asked him to stand next to it while I rubbed and pressed down on his back. He did spectacularly. The wind was blowing crazily and we were next to the terrifying trees, but he only spooked once. In the video you can see exactly what I've been talking about, the trees are moving a lot. When Gambler did spook, or move around too much, I just asked him to trot around a couple times. He got the idea. I focused on bringing his head down, because I've heard horses can't produce adrenaline (I could be completely wrong about that because I don't remember where I heard it) or something when their heads are below their withers. This keeps him calm even while facing the horse-eating-trees.

Itchy Ear 

Last, I did some work on his feet. Gambler still doesn't like picking up his feet, but I'm attacking the issue head-on. Today I saw some real progress. By that time the camera's batteries had died (again) so I didn't get any pictures. 

Putting the Plan into Practice

Thursday was a rainy fall day, so I didn't get a session with Gambler. I did, however, get a tack chest! I don't remember exactly when I got it, but it was sometime this last week. My mom found an add on craigslist: an antique chest that a woman was giving away for free. We drove thirty minutes to pick it up. I was not disappointed!

It isn't fancy, or extraordinarily beautiful, but it is well-built. I don't doubt that it will keep my various horse supplies clean, safe, and contained. It's better than a 20 dollar plastic bin from Walmart any day!

Today I tried out my "old new plan." I don't have any pictures, but my brother might take some tomorrow. I know that if he's behind the camera I'll have several good pictures and videos to show you. 

I started out with desensitizing exercises. I tossed the stick and string over his back and smacked it on the ground several times on both sides. This is old stuff - I've been doing it since day one - but Gambler is still unsure of it on his right side. That is his weak side; he is unsure when seeing things out of his right eye. I started a new phase of the desensitizing today, one that I haven't done before. I led Gambler forward (or asked him to circle me) and tossed the stick and string over his back while he was walking. It became immediately apparent that Gambler doesn't understand the difference between motion and motion with energy. This is probably my fault, I am guilty of laziness and lacking energy. Though it will take time, I want to teach Gambler that the stick and string are equally harmless at the walk and the halt. 

Sensitizing is just as important as desensitizing. If your horse is completely desensitized, he'll never do anything. I want Gambler to know that when I give him a cue (with energy) I want him to respond and quickly. So I played with moving the forequarters and hindquarters, paying specific attention to when I gave him the release of pressure. If my release is immediate, his response will become immediate. 

I also spent a lot of time on the circling game. I used the 12' lead line as a longe line, because I wanted to establish boundaries. I want Gambler to circle outside of my bubble, but I want slack in the rope. I also want him to bend on the circle. No counter-bending or haunches-in allowed. There is one other thing. I've noticed that every time I ask Gambler to stop while circling I let him come into me. That has to stop. I have always made him stop a few steps away until I invited him into my bubble, but now I want him to wait out on the circle until I ask him to come to me. He is used to just coming in, but by the end of the day, he was starting to understand what I was asking. 

Then I brought out the mounting block. I stood on the mounting block with Gambler facing toward me. Step by step, I asked him to stand closer to a position where I could get on. At first he pulled all the tricks that he was used to using when Mom was holding him and I was leaning on him (or vice versa, it doesn't matter who is holding him, that method just doesn't work), however, when he misbehaved, I sent him out to circle at the trot. We ended the day with him standing calmly while I rubbed his back - something I couldn't do with someone holding him. 

I want to make it clear that it isn't Mom's fault. The problem is that when someone is holding Gambler, he is being forced to hold still. This makes him feel claustrophobic and panicky or grumpy and obstinate. But today I held the line loosely. If he wanted to leave, I drove him away. In the end he decided that he would rather stand than trot. Because it was his decision, he didn't bite, or move around. 

Note: I also introduced disengaging the hip while flexing laterally, which is one of the first things I will do when I start riding him. 

Frisky Pony

Kezi is definitely in heat again, and both horses were feeling frisky today. I went out to get Gambler and they both ran away from me bucking and rearing. Then Gambler proceeded to chase Kezi all over the pasture. At this point, I knew that I was not going to get them into the barn without grain, so I brought one of their buckets outside and shook it. That got their attention! Both of them took off cantering/galloping (I wasn't looking very closely) toward the barn.

What's that? You want us to come in?

Maybe some other time.

As you can see, we're a tad busy racing around like madhorses.

Trotting over to check out the dog.

Once they finally made their way into the barn, I left my brother to take pictures while I set up in the arena. He got some really great pics!

He just loves dogs.

When I was done setting up, I brought Gambler out to the arena.

My plan for the day was to work on the acceptance of the saddle, since he was pretty upset last time I saddled him up. However, he was really uppity from running about in the pasture, so I started out by trotting him over some poles. The little stud muffin proceeded to jump the poles instead of trot over them. 

There was one point where he spooked at something scary that I didn't see and jumped two ground poles. My brother caught it on video. If you pause while he's jumping, it's absolutely beautiful. Thankfully, that was the only spook today and he snapped out of it very quickly. 

There were a few moments when he really understood the trot pole concept and showed some great knee action.

 

Since he was jumping everything that I didn't expect him to jump, I decided to try a few little jumps. First I longed him over an itsy, bitsy cross rail and then I made it a little bigger using buckets for jump standards. The barn owner has wonderful jump standards, but they are hard to use when you are longeing because the rope gets tangled with the standard. Here is a video of the itsy, bitsy cross rail.

This is the bigger jump.

To finish the day, I let my brother longe Gambler. I was very impressed with both of them, since it was only their third time working together. My brother longed him at the trot for the first time and they both did great. 

Future Lesson Horse?

I've always entertained the idea of giving kids lessons on Gambler (after he's properly trained to be ridden of course). However, Mom says he's too spooky and he takes advantage of people. Well, he certainly takes advantage of me when he can, but I still think he has some serious lesson horse potential.

I started out the day yesterday by saddling him up western for the third or forth time. He responded the same way he usually does. He usually wants to trot super fast to get away from the saddle, and throw in a few bucks for good measure. Thankfully, he recovered from those episodes quickly. We even got some canter work in!

This time there wasn't a rope from him to chew, so he bit the stirrup. 

Whoo-hoo!

One of Gambley's bucks

If I just trot fast enough . . .

He did settle down

Canter Work

After that I took the saddle off and did some more circling work, partially to calm him down because he still gets a little worked up with the western saddle and partially to do more canter work. I got a really amusing video of Gambler longeing me. I don't actually go anywhere, but Gambler loves to play with the carrot stick. 

Eventually, I took that toy away and we headed over to the tarp obstacle while my brother filmed. 

I finished the day with a game of catching me. Gambler was a little distracted due to the fact that both my mom and my brother were sitting nearby and his marefriend was in heat. He did listen to me though. Now and then I lost him so I just patiently drove him forward and disengaged his hindquarters until he came back to me. 

So just as I was about to call it a day, my brother (who had been patiently taking pictures this whole time) asked if he could join in the fun. He wanted to try liberty, but it seemed a little too soon to me. He has longed Gambler before so I suggested he longe him over the tarp obstacle. Gambler was so good for him! He was gentle and docile as . . .idk a puppy? Puppies aren't as sweet and obedient as he was for my brother. Then, Gambler knocked over a pole. Whenever this happens to me I have to get someone to hold him because my horse has no conception of the words ground tie. But my brother just plops the rope on the ground with the instruction, "You stay right here." and my horse stays right there! Since when? 

Things like this make me think Gambley could help out with lessons. He seems to have a really good instinct to be calm and obedient instead of his normal quirky, troublesome/spookaholic self when he is around non-horsey people. There was a super cute moment in the end where Gambler sneezed on my brother and my brother jumped and squealed. Overall, I'd say this was a very fun and productive day!