Walking among the horses

We've had some really bad storms coming through for the past 5 days.  The ground is saturated, and mud is everywhere.  I prefer not to work the horses in this kind of weather.  However, I decided that I should go out and walk with them last night.  I make it a point to try and make contact with them at least once a day.  Since I was gone for saturday/sunday, I figured they needed some time.

First I walked in with the big girls.  I called them and they all came up.  Pam always leads when coming to me, and she walks right up and burries her head into my stomach.  I rubbed on her good, and the next thing I knew, Nellie had joined Pam.  This was new to me.  Nellie hasn't shown me much affection, but she walked right up in and wanted me rubbing on her.  I gave her some nice scratches and she melted.  I took a step away to pay Rachael some attention, and Nellie moved her head right back into my chest.  How can you say no to that, especially when it's a horse that typically doesn't do that.  I rubbed on her some more, and rubbed Pam a bit too since they were side by side.  I turned 180 degrees to Rachael, who was on the other side of me.  She was ready for her scratches and pets.  It was really a nice time.  There is something so soothing and calming about being with horses.  I love it.  We just walked around a bit, and I talked to them.  I told them about how this weekend we may be raking hay in a field and for them to get ready for it.  ;)

One safety note about doing this kind of thing.  Even though my horses are dog gentle and loving with me, it is still extremely dangerous to be around that many big bodies.  There were a few times where the girls tried to butt each other out for my attention.  If you aren't paying attention, you can get knocked over.  If you are in with your horses, I make it a point to always have my hand on the horse next to me.  Also, NEVER let yourself get sandwiched between two horses.  If something were to happen, and one of them were to move in on you, you have no escape route.  Just walking among the horses is a really fun/rewarding thing for me, but my eyes are always on the horses, and my hand is always on the one closest.  Just last night Rachael ran into Pam, causing Pam to site step on me.  I had my hand on Pam, so I easily stepped back when she stepped.  Had I not, I could have been knocked over and possibly stepped on.  Always remember safety!



My 3 queens after I left them

 After a while, I left the girls and went and spent some time with Whinny, the new girl.  I turned back and saw the girls looking at me and snapped a picture.  I love these horses.  Also, I couldn't ask for a better matched set.  :)

Whinny is teaching me a lot.  I hope I'm rubbing off on her too.  I can pet her through the fence.  A little rub here and there on her face/neck, but she LOVES to have her back/butt scratched.  She'll move back and forth and cock her head sideways just to show how much she loves it.  It's funny.  When I enter the pen though, she won't just let me touch her.  Last night I tried and tried, but to no avail.  However, she is totally submissive to me.  If I walk to her, she makes sure she stays 3 feet away from me.  But if I turn and walk away from her, she follows me and puts her head in my back pocket.  I did this for quite some time last night, and I swear her nosed bumped my butt a few times.  When I turn and try to rub her though, she quickly moves just out of my arms reach.  It's progress though. 

It was good to go out and spend time with my horses.  Here's some pictures I took of Whinny and then a shot of all of them.  enjoy.



Whinny following me



Whinny profile



All 4 of my girls



Getting hands on!

Just thought I'd give a little update on my progress with Whinny.  I'm having success.  Life has me busy as can be, but twice a day I walk out to the fence and talk with her for a few minutes.  She is letting me rub her now.  It was really neat to see the progress that the joining up technique gave me.  She'll walk up to me now, and when I reach up, she will quickly side-pass her back to my hand so that I rub her back and her rump.  She LOVES to be scratched on her back.  :)  Having some good success.

The other girls are happily eating nice green first growth grass.  They don't know it, but this weekend the team will probably be working.  My friend Pat might be cutting wheat this week, and if he does, we're going to rake it with horses.  I'll bring my team and forecart to his place and we'll have two rakes going.  Should be fun.  I'm really looking forward to it.  If these big spring thunderstorms would just stop.  :)

A quick joining up attempt

Nellie has been really showing affection towards Whinny the past few days.  Nellie doesn't stray far from the fence.  Who would have thought my big bad lead mare would be such a softie.  I snapped this picture this morning as I left for work.  Just a small difference between the two horses ... right?  :)

Whinny and Nellie

Today after work, I had 30 minutes or so till I had to go to baseball practice with my boy.  I went out and walked with Whinny (the yearling filly).  I told myself that I wasn't going to start the "joining up" method I just learned about, cuz I didn't have a whole lot of time.  Well ... I couldn't help myself.  :)

I started just as the video says.  I made her run away from me.  The second she would slow to a trot, I would raise my arms and shoe her on.  I did this for a minute or two (and when you're timing this stuff ... that is a LONG time!)  :)  I then worked her the other direction, for the same amount of time.  After this, I slowed my walk down to very slow walk, and I walked directly towards her shoulder while I looked her in the eye.  This gave her just enough pressure to keep her walking away.  If she stopped, I raised my arms to keep her moving.  I kept doing this till I saw some of the signs Marty talked about.  after a few minutes, she started turning her inside ear towards me.  A few seconds later, she did drop her head a few times as she walked.  She was very relaxed.  I then stopped walking like that at her. 

I was about 10 feet away from her, and I turned my back to her.  I kept her at a 45 degree angle behind me.  She stood there, and took a step towards me.  I was hoping for more (like in the video clip), but she just stood there.  I waited and waited, but she wouldn't take another step.  I didn't look in her eyes and I stuck my arm backwards toward her.  She then lowered her head and began to sniff towards it.  This ended with me touching her nose.  She then did this again, and I was able to give the side of her head a small rub.  I then took a step or two backwards.  She didn't move, and I rubbed her neck.  She stood there great.  Next thing I knew, I was rubbing all over her face.  It worked!  I grabbed the halter on her, and then rubbed all over her face and neck.  She stood there very nice for it.  I was just excited that she was letting me rub on her! 

I wasn't able to get her to follow me around, because I had to leave soon after that.  It's a great starting point though.  I'm very satisfied.

Introducing Whinny

We have a new addition to the family.  This time around, she's not a draft horse either.  I'd like to introduce my new yearling filly, Whinny.

Whinny, my new yearling filly

I got Whinny from my neighbor.  Her father is a papered Buckskin QH, and her mother was a papered paint.  Both parents were around 16 hands tall.  When Whinny was 3 months old, she lost her momma to colic.  She's been raised in a 20x20 pen with very little human interaction.  I've visited her a few times, and fell in love with her.

I decided that instead of trailering her to bring her to my house, I'd just walk her the 1/2 mile to her new pen at my place.  My neighbor had gotten her in a 10x10 pen for me and she already had a bridle on.  I was under the impression that she'd been worked with a bit, but I was told later that she had only been handled 2 times, and the second time was when the bridle got put on and left on.  In a big pen, she would stay within 2 feet of you, but would not let you touch her.

I was shocked as can be when I led her out of her pen.  She followed me perfectly.  She was a little cautious as she experienced long grass for the first time, and saw normal pasture type stuff for the first time.  I walked slow though, and reassured her.  She was great.  We had a small event when my 3 Belgians saw her.  The came running over and wanted to establish the pecking order right away, but I didn't let it happen.  I kept Whinny between me and the horses and got the Belgians to leave us alone.  I was surprised it went as well as it did.


I have her in her own pen now, and she and Nellie (the lead Belgian mare) have bonded through the fence.  She broke out today and was in with the Belgians.  All was fine.  I separated her tonight so that I can keep working with her.


I want to get her to where I can touch her.  I really hate that she won't let me pet on her.  Also, she does not know about food yet, (or that I am the bringer of good food) which means that if she gets out of her pen, I have to use pressure to move her around, instead of just persuading with a good meal.  That can be a challenge.


I talked to my good friend Lynn today about her, and he told me that I needed to join up with her.  I asked him what that meant, and he referred me to Monty Roberts.  I've never heard of him, but I checked out a couple of youtube clips on him and I LOVED what I saw.  This stuff is great, and a wonderful way to establish just who is the dominant one in the human/horse relationship.  I have the links below that my friend sent me.  One is a great overall view of joining up.  The second is an actual clip of him using this technique on a yearling horse.  Both are a great view.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dx91mH2voo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC_15etNe7U 

This also goes along with my thought process as of lately.  I was reading Bob Skeldings blog (www.wagonteamster.com) and he posted an awesome blog about becoming a horseman.  It's a great read about herd dynamics and how a good horseman should see the horses.  I loved it.  Check it out here (http://www.wagonteamster.com/html/the_making_of_a_horseman.html).

I love learning about this stuff.  It's still very new to me, and I find myself absorbing it like a sponge.  In Bob's blog, he gives a test you can use to see how your horses view you.  The test is to walk out among your herd, and just stand among them.  If you are the boss, each horse will come over to you and either put their nose into your armpit or do some other gesture of submission towards you (even if it's only grazing next to you).  They don't do it at the same time, but they should each do this.  I decided to test out myself with my Belgians and see how it goes.


My results were great.  I walked out with them, and Pam walked right up to me.  She pressed her nose right into my belly, and let me rub her all over her face.  After a few minutes of that, I stepped a foot or so away from her.  Nellie was close by, and she took a few steps towards me, and just stood next to me.  I reached out, and she leaned into my hand for a rub.  I then walked a few steps towards Rachael.  She turned and walked right to me and buried her head into my armpit.


It was really cool to see this happen.  I also don't think it's a coincidence that my team (the horses I worked hard all last fall and winter) both walked up and buried their noses into me.  I think the 3 of us share a special bond from all our work.  Nellie is still a bit new with us, so I'm sure we'll get there.


Anyway, that's enough ramblings for me.  Looking forward to try "joining up" with my new filly.  I'll post how it goes.  I'm really excited to try it out.

Wagon rides for a "Prom" dance

I've been a busy guy as of late, and I'm running a bit late on keeping the blog updated.  I'll try to stay on top of things better.

Back on April 8th I got to do some wagon rides for my church.  The 16 - 18 year old youth were having a fancy "prom" dance.  My wife was involved in it, so I'm sure you can imagine who got invited to give fancy wagon rides to the kids.

I was able to borrow a nice white vis-a-vis from my good pal Roger Barnes (Old Time Transport).  A big thank you to Rog for that!  Due to me being extra busy, I wasn't able to work Rachael at all before the rides.  It was okay though, because Rachael doesn't require it.  She's the kind of horse that you can pull straight out of pasture after a few months off and she's good to go.

The rides were taking place in a quiet and quaint neighborhood.  It was quiet and very nice.  I got Rachael all brushed out, bridle path clipped, and even used some show shine on her.  She was glistening and looked fabulous.  I also got her hitched up in her new Biothane harness.  I love those things!!!  They look sooo good.  The pic should show this nicely.

Here's Rachael before I hitched her up

The rides were uneventful and lots of fun.  The kids were awestruck, and Rachael did fabulous.  We had lots of people looking out windows and complimenting me on the rig.

Test Run.  My boy Riley and another boy got to go.

2 couples going for their ride.  My son accompanied me for all the rides.

At the end of the event the photographer, Cheryl Richard, wanted to use the carriage and horse as a back drop for a group picture.  When you have a laid back and awesome horse like Rachael, that is not a problem.  We pulled up where the photographer wanted us and sat for 10 minutes while pictures got taken.  It was great.

Me, my boy, a lovely carriage, and the best hitch horse around.

This is me sitting while pictures were taken.

Now, to get us there, my wife pulled the vis-a-vis behind her vehicle and I pulled the horse trailer.  My wife had to take the kids to the dance though, so I was on my own to get the stuff home.  This is where my redneck super-rig comes in handy.  I added a receiver hitch to the back of the stock trailer, so I just hauled the 16 foot flatbed trailer behind the stock trailer.  My old blue diesel truck pulled it, but would only get to 55 MPH doing it (while I watched the gas tank drop).  :)

The redneck "super-rig".  :)

My first time working Clydesdales

I have taken on a new task.  My friend Bev, and the Double M Warhorse Ranch in Terrell, asked me to work with a pair of her Clydesdales.  One, is a 17ish hand mare named Pride.  She was raised working in cornfields and should be an old pro.  The other is Caesar (CC) a 17ish hand Stallion.  I was told that CC was saddle broke, but had never been worked under harness.  CC is about 4 years old.  Pride and CC have been in the same pasture for the past few months.  Bev was trying to breed Pride, but CC just doesn't seem like he knows what his job is supposed to be.  These two are close though, and they look really good together.

I arrived  yesterday morning, and went to work pulling the horses out of the pasture.  Pride was no problem at all.  I tied her to the side of the trailer.  Then I brought up CC.  I should note that I have never worked a stallion before, and so I was extra cautious and paid extra attention to what he was doing.  Right away I noticed that he was very vocal, especially when he would see a mare around.  He wasn't unruly, but very vocal as I led him.  Since we were going to be putting a harness on him for the first time, I tied him to Bev's stock.  This is solid steel, and cemented into the ground.  The horses behaved very well, and I have to say that I really like Clydesdales.  They have such a sweet disposition.  When leading Pride, anytime I would stop, she would start to groom me (barely lipping my shoulder, back, or the leg of my pants).  It was kinda sweet.  Once the horses were tied, I groomed them and talked with them about what we were going to be doing.  The horseflies were pretty bad, so we doused them good with fly spray to help them focus on us and not the horrible biting horseflies.

I decided that the first thing I needed to do, was to see what Pride remembered.  I got the first of the team harnesses that Bev had for me to use.  They are leather, and are in perfect condition.  You could tell by the way Pride stood for me while harnessing that she knew the drill.  No complaints on anything I did, and just stood there like a lady.  I got all the straps adjusted properly, and got the bridle on her.  The bridle already had a snaffle bit on it, and so I decided that I'd just use that for this first time.  I've found the snaffle to be a very non-invasive bit and great for first timer's.  Pride was perfect.

After I got her all harnessed up, we did some ground driving.  She was a tad rusty on her commands, but she eventually did what I asked.  She stepped off well, and stopped well.  You can tell she knows her stuff and a few good working sessions will have her remembering the queue's again.  When we left, Caesar was calling for her.  He likes being by her side.  Pride did well, and so she we finished ground driving her and tied her to the trailer.

For this training, I had Mark helping me.  Mark is Bev's husband and is an awesome guy.  I really like him and have a good time with him.  He helped me locate the harnesses, and get things situated.  I was very glad to have Mark helping.  Doing this stuff with 2 sets of hands is so much easier than just doing it by myself, like I usually do.

Up next ... time to harness CC.  I have to say ... I LOVE draft horses!  Oh how I love working with them.  So easy.  CC stood perfectly while I slide the collar around his neck.  I determined that we were going to need a pad on him.  Eventually his neck will be thicker than prides, but not yet.  He's got some filling out to do.  He stood perfectly while we slide the pad on and attached it to the collar.  I was happy.  Next I got the harness on my arm/shoulder, and just stood in front of him for a bit.  He sniffed the harness all over, and acted like he didn't care about it.  I rubbed the hame on him a bit and there was no reaction.  Like I said ... so easy.  I slid the harness up and on him, and he didn't care one bit.  We then went to work fitting the harness to him.  I had to add new holes to the quarter straps and breast strap.  It took us a bit, but we got the harness fitted to him.  I then let him stand for a few minutes with it on.  He didn't care at all.  I didn't have the bridle on yet.  So I untied him and led him around.  I was expecting some kind of reaction from all the noises the harness makes while walking, but he didn't.  So we tied him to the trailer next to Pride, and I fitted his bridle.  He really licked and bit at the bit.  He didn't seem to familiar with it.  I adjusted the bit properly, and let him stand for a few minutes while he got used to the bit.  Once he stopped chomping at it so much, I led him around again.  The blinders made such a great difference.  He was focused on me, and not the other mares in neighboring fields.  Very nice!

Caesar (CC) - Showing off his harness

Pride - standing like a pro.  Like the heart on her right knee?

Things were progressing so well, that we decided to hook Pride and CC together, and lead them around.  We hooked a yoke between the two, and hooked a trailer tie between the rear brichons of the two horses.  Mark and I then led both horses around.  Caesar really liked this.  He was happy as a clam to have Pride by his side.  They did great, and we had no problems at all.  Well ... almost no problems.  Caesar has a forelock that is thick and reaches down to his nose.  When I slid the bridle on, I just wrapped it behind his ears and down the side of his neck.  Bad idea.  The poof in his forelock from the hair going backwards, helped the bridle to slip over his ears.  At one point, I saw him really chomping on the bit, and I realized that it was in his teeth.  I looked up and saw the top of the bridle at his eyes.  Yikes!  Mark held both horses great while I fixed it.

Mark leading Pride, and me with CC

These horses are awesome.  Fun to work with, and so pretty

Leading them side by side.  They did well.  Next time we'll drive them

Things went awesome.  I decided to keep things awesome and end the session.  We tied the horses again, and left them standing for about 30 minutes with all the gear on.  They were great (other than Caesar managing to get his bridle off again.  That long hair is really pretty, but makes it hard to keep a bridle on.  This is why all of my horses get their bridle paths trimmed.

CC - note the missing bridle

Pride - standing like a lady

Pride unharnessed, and working on CC

After letting them sit for a while, we unharnessed them, and put them back in the pasture.  They did wonderful and I'm very proud of them.


Great day!  I had a wonderful time and it was good to work the horses.  Had a great time with Mark, Bev, and Sherrii (ranch manager of the ranch).  I think the horses will be heading up here to my place soon so I can work them hard.

Penelope is gentle as a lap dog, and loves human interaction.  Gorgeous Clydesdale filly.

I should also note that I LOVE a Clydesdale filly that Bev has.  Penelope is less than 2 years old and is sooooo sweet.  I love that filly.