Schedules

Throughout our journey, Gambler and I have been confronted with a lack of time.

Green horses need time. Hours of groundwork, hours with the saddle, and then, eventually, hours and hours of riding. Hours and hours that I have to scrounge up between sunrise and sunset, around work and school and friends and church and many other aspects of life.

These last few weeks I have been losing the fight against time. I finally got a job. I love the job and I need it, for multiple reasons. Working nights, however, has spun my whole Gambler schedule in chaos. This week I have slowly been collecting the pieces and reconstructing it.

I can't make any promises, but I hope to post regularly on this blog again. I haven't written because there isn't anything to write about. Once Gambler and I are making consistent progress I will begin writing regularly again.

We spent several hours together on Tuesday, but I don't have any pictures because I was at the barn by myself. I didn't ride for the same reason. There is no good reason to take unnecessary risks.

The smile says it all. 

The pictures in this post are from Sunday. I didn't ride then either, because I had a limited amount of time. On top of that, Gambler was spooking at the windy day. In our time apart, our relationship has weakened, resulting in a lack of confidence on both parts. I decided to focus on a tree that was blowing in the wind. At the beginning of our session Gambler couldn't walk past the tree without cantering away in fear. First, I asked him to circle at the walk closer and closer to the tree. Then, I asked him to slow down or stop next to the tree. After a few tries, he was standing directly beneath the tree, licking and chewing.

Directly under the tree, head down, fully relaxed.

See the licking, chewing, and floppy ears?

Playing the friendly game under the tree.

Conquering the Back Feet

Today I only had half an hour of daylight (seems to happen a lot now that it's winter) and I was determined to make the most of it. The weather was a lot like yesterday, about 41 degrees Fahrenheit and foggy. Only today it was more rainy than foggy. That meant that the footing was a little worse. So instead of doing any longeing, I worked on Gambler's feet and did some mounting prep. Neither of those things require a lot of movement, much to Gambler's chagrin. Someone needs to explain to that horse that slippery muddy grass is bad for his legs.

I'm happy with how he did today. I picked out both of his front feet and with help from my mom, "picked up" Gambler's back feet.

Over the last few weeks I've been asking Gambler to pick up his back hooves by squeezing the cap of his hock. Pat Parelli encourages horse owners to teach their horses to pick up their own hooves by squeezing the chestnut (front legs) and the cap of the hock (back legs) to discourage the horse from leaning on them. I've found that it also discourages the horse from kicking at you.

Then when watching a helpful video blog on Youtube called To The Heart of a Mustang, I came upon another tactic and decided to try it out. That was what I did yesterday. I picked up Gambler's right front foot and every time he kicked or pulled away I backed him up a few steps and tried again. It worked so well that I decided to try it on the back feet.

I'll be honest, I've never liked picking out horses's back feet, even on well-trained animals. It has always made me nervous. That combined with the fact that I know Gambler kicks out made me unwilling to work on those back feet, but I know that I have to for his sake. So first I squeezed the cap of the hock, then I reached down and grabbed the hoof. If at any point he kicked out or pulled away, I had Mom back him up and then I tried again. I didn't get to the point of picking them out, but I did pick up each hoof a few inches off the ground and set it back down without any kicking, which I consider a success.

After that I tried some mounting prep, but Gambler really wasn't feeling it today. So we retreated and found a good note to end on.

I Am So Proud of Him

There is something about Thursdays. I don't know what it is, but almost every Thursday for several weeks in a row has been rainy. Why Thursdays? It is inconvenient since that is one of the two week days I get to see Gambler. A day in the cross-ties, however, can be just as productive as a day in the arena. Today proved that fact.

My mom and I got to the barn just after four, as the sun was beginning to set. I think it was at least, it was too cloudy to tell, but the light had a dusky quality. We pulled up to the barn and scared a little rabbit.

Sorry for the blurry quality, it was pretty dark.

We had to trek out into the pasture to bring the horses in. They came about half way up to the barn only to turn around and run back out into the far end of the pasture. Thank you for that. When we walked out to them, Gambler came right up to me to be haltered. I thought that was really sweet, especially due to how windy it was. Normally when it is windy and he is freaked out he runs away from me, so it was a nice change. And let me tell you it was windy! Windy and freezing cold. The wind was gusting up to 30mph, or that's what the weather report said, it felt even stronger than that.

Gambler enjoying his hay.

"Do you hear the wind too?"

The door was completely shut so the wind couldn't blow into the barn, but you could still hear it outside. I kept an eye on Gambler (notoriously afraid of wind) to see how he would handle it, but he was surprisingly chill. Since he wasn't too upset, I put him in the cross ties and gave him an in depth grooming session. Then I spent some time on bridling, which I will go over in more detail later.

Okay, the wind is a little bit scary . . . 

He is looking back at Kezi in her stall.

Mare mentioned that the saddle might not fit Gambler any more (he has definitely gained some fat and muscle over the last few months). So I wanted to check out the fit of the saddle without the saddle pad. I've never saddled him in the cross-ties before so I brought out the saddle pad first and "sacked him out" with it. 

"Mom you left something on my back . . . "

"But why can't I eat the camera?"

He was okay with the saddle pad, so I brought out the saddle and put it on him. It seems to fit pretty well, but it could be pinching in a couple places. I found this test where you set the saddle on the horse without a pad or a cinch and pull on the stirrup. If the saddle fits well, it shouldn't move much. Well the saddle passed that test. I think that I'll check the fit again, this time with the pad I'm using now. There is a foam pad I might check out too.

Kezi is so distracting.

I can easily get my hand under the saddle in the front, but it's not loose, which is about right. It doesn't seem to interfere with his shoulders either.  

There is plenty of clearance above the withers and an open channel all the way down his spine.

Silly goof refused to stand square, which of course meant the saddle was a little crooked.

It might be pinching a little under the stirrups, I couldn't get any fingers under there.

Same spot on the other side.

Overall it looks pretty good.

At this point I went back to work on the bridling. Gambler has never had an issue with the bit, he loves to chew on it. I could hold the bit in front of him and he would take it into his mouth. Then a few days ago I put it in his mouth without realizing how cold it was. Normally I would warm up the bit in my hands before putting it in his mouth. It just took that one bad experience to throw him into full head-tossing hard-to-bridle madness. So today, I set out to right a wrong.

I spent a while just approaching and retreating. I would put one arm around Gambler's head and hold the headstall on his nose, pressing the bit to his lips. If he tossed his head I held it there until he stopped and then I took the bridle away and praised him. I did that several times until he no longer tossed his head when I just held the bridle there. Then I stuck my thumb in the corner of his mouth and just asked him to open his mouth while I held the bit to his lips. Once he had that down. I asked him to just put the bit in his mouth for a second, then to hold the bit for a little longer, then I put the bridle on (I took off everything but the cheek strap and the throat latch so that the bit would fit nicely over a halter). I rubbed him and praised him and then took it off again. 

At that point I took a break to check the fit of the saddle. When I came back we went through the whole bridling process again, but it took less time and when he got it on, he didn't even chomp at it. He just sat there in the cross-ties, ignoring the bit like a "broke" horse. I was so proud of him.

I had to clip the cross ties to the other part of his halter so they wouldn't interfere with the bit.

Look at those ears.

S that was our wonderfully productive day, despite the wind and cold. I also did a bit of work with picking up his feet. He is improving slowly but steadily. I'll probably explain the process in detail at a later date.

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. 

Back on Track (Again)

Today was the first day I've found time for a session with Gambler in over a week. The light was fading fast, so everything was a bit rushed. Gambler was attentive and relaxed, which was impressive given the circumstances. He's always a little squirrely when I haven't seen him in a while.

I started out by playing the Parelli games with him just to see where we were. Horses live in the moment. They remember everything, but they don't live for yesterday, or tomorrow; they live today. So every time I  see Gambler I run over the basics to see what horse I have for the day.

Circling at the walk.

Yielding the forequarters

Yielding the hindquarters

Lateral flexion

Lateral flexion

Flipping the reins over Gambler's neck to get him used to the motion.

One thing I have been focusing on Gambler's right side. He is not comfortable seeing me out of his right eye. He prefers to be led from the left, and whenever I groom him on the right he wants to turn his head and look at me from the left eye. I've spent enough time on the circling game that he is comfortable going both directions, but the friendly game is scarier on the right. Not to mention when I play the driving game to move his forequarters on the right he will swing his hindquarters at me threateningly. Today I spent some time on the right side and it paid off. He started licking and chewing and yawning, releasing a lot of nervous energy. 

Then I did some mounting prep. He still isn't acting spooky, but he is grumpy. I've had the chiropractor come out, so I know everything is okay, but he's acting like he is in pain. I hope that it's a ptsd sort of thing, and he is just remembering a past injury. I'm afraid the damage is deeper. For now I'm going to continue. I've sat on him before without any grunting so maybe he just had a belly ache today. Fingers crossed.

While my mom and I were trying to put weight on him without head tossing, biting, and grunting, a new situation arose. Kezi is apparently no longer herd-bound to Gambler. Gambler, on the other hand, is definitely attached to Kezi. So Kez just walked away into the other pasture and Gambler went bananas. I'm talking full-out cantering in circles, bucking, kicking, you name it. For the most part he listened to my cues and stayed out of my space (he needed a few reminders), which was impressive. Needless to say, it's just one more thing we'll have to address at a later date.

By this point the sun had nearly set, so we brought the horses in to feed them. We gave Gambler an extra dose of Metamucil in case his grumpiness was caused by a sand colic flare-up. Then I spent some time grooming him in the cross-ties.