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. 

Took two mares to Vegas!!

That title is a bit deceptive.  Vegas is the gorgeous Stallion owned by Mark and Bev McGowan of the DoubleM Warhorse Ranch in Terrell TX (www.doublemwarhorseranch.com).  The girls were reluctant to come up to me out of the pasture.  I guess they're loving all the rye that has sprung up.  But I tell ya, a good scoop of food seems to call up even the most stubborn horse.  I think I'm the same way too, but with blue bell ice cream.

Pam and Nellie are the two that I am taking to be bred.  Nellie threw a Vegas foal last year, and that colt was incredible.  Pam is such a gorgeous mare, that I'm really excited to see what she and Vegas put together.  I got the girls out of the pasture and got them ready.  The girls were cleaned all up, de-cockleburred, and had all their hooves cleaned out.  Both Pam and Nellie did great with this.

I learned something today while cleaning hooves.  Both Pam and Nellie do not like their rear feet messed with, and so I'm always a tad nervous inside.  I don't let this show.  To compensate, I have been very firm.  When I grab that hoof, I hold it steady, and move it where I want it.  When they start to fight, I cock the toe backwards, pinching the joint, till they stop struggling, then I release that pressure.  This has always worked for me, but there are still sometimes, where Pam or Nellie just seem to let me have the hoof for 5 seconds, then they're fighting me for it.

So today, as I was holding Pam's hoof, she started to jerk it a little, and I did something different.  I let go of all the pressure I had on that hoof.  I didn't grip it as tight, and I just talked sweet to her.  She then also released the pressure in her leg.  It felt like maybe my firm grasp and doing just what I want, was causing her to tense up.  I set her hoof on my knee, and cleaned the hoof all the way out with no problems.  I went to her second rear hoof and it was the exact same.  Nellie was also the same.  This is probably just me getting better with horses, but it was kind of cool to see the direct correlation to me loosening up causing the horse to loosen up.  You still gotta be firm and do what you need to do, but you can do it without being so firm!  (does that make any sense?)  Of course, when you have a horse like Rachael, you don't have to worry about this stuff at all because your horse lets you hold a hoof forever without complaining one bit.  :)

Mark and Nellie

So ... the girls were loaded and we set off to the warhorse ranch.  We arrived, and I got to meet a wonderful woman who I've been conversing with for years on the internet.  Her name is Sherrii, and she is as good as gold.  We said our hello's, and chit chatted a bit, then decided to get down to business.  Nellie was the first unloaded, and Mark lent me a hand and took her.  I then got Pam, and we walked over to the Belgian pasture.

Backing Pam out of the trailer

Me and Pam

This year most of the warhorse Belgian mares had the year off, so all mares are turned in with Vegas.  It was pretty cool to see him with 4 mares.  As soon as he saw Pam and Nellie he got all kinds of excited.  Mark and I turned the girls loose in the Pen, and then we all sat and watched the herd dynamics take form.  Nellie was just here recently, so she ran over and greeted the other mares.  Pam was more interested in Vegas.  She really didn't mind him at all.  ;)

A herd of Belgians - 6 mares and 1 stallion

I found it really fun to watch how the herd worked.  Here was 6 Belgian mares and a stallion, and Vegas would lower his head, and herd all the girls over to the round bale of hay.  He wanted them all clustered together.  I've never seen anything like this.  It was pretty neat.  Since Pam and the other mares were still working on the pecking order, Pam did not stay bunched up with the other mares, so Vegas kept running over, and turning her back towards them.  Nellie would also run out with Pam, as if to check on her and make sure she was okay.  I could have watched the herd mentality take place for hours.  Very neat to watch.

Sparkles the appy, and Star and Baby the Clydesdales

After that we went over and saw the Clydesdales, and I got to meet Sherrii's pretty appy mare Sparkles.  My son Riley really liked her.  He was petting her and talking with her a bunch. 

Riley and Sparkles

After that, it was more chit chat, and then I headed back towards home.  It was a great trip and a fun visit.  For those who don't know, Bev, Sherrii, and I are in the same yahoo draft horse group (nadrafthorse).  This is how we all met.  It was pretty cool to have all of us together.  Good times!

Sherrii, me, and Bev

I'll be headed back down there in a month to pick up the girls.  I may be going down sooner than that for another purpose.  If I do that, I'll post all about it.  :)

My wife and I.  I love it when she comes on these trips with me.

My first ride in the new forecart!

With new toys to play with, and new harnesses to try out, I couldn't let the week pass without trying out my new stuff.

Yesterday I got Rachael out and fitted her with her new biothane harness.  These things are made for HUGE horses.  I had to add new holes to the market straps and quarter straps.  I have every other strap set at it's smallest hole.  I may have to get new hames too.  Rachael has a 24 inch collar.  I have the hame straps adjusted so that only a buckle is between the hames, and it was pretty good.  Smaller hames would be a good thing.  Either that, or I size up my 24 inch collars and get collar pads. 

Rachael was a dream, as usual.  We got all hooked up, and went for a ride.  It was great.  I'm really liking this cart.  Going to be fun!!

New Harness, Sled, and Pioneer Forecart

I've been busier than a one legged man in a butt kickin' contest lately, but I'm going to try to keep things updated here.

Last weekend I took a trip and bought all kinds of horse hitch stuff.  It was wonderful.  So here's how it all began.

Last fall, a member of the TDHMA (Texas Draft Horse and Mule Association) posted that he was selling a set of draft harnesses and an old pioneer forecart.  I've wanted one of those pioneer forecarts since I first started hitching up Lily, so I got in touch with him.  Unfortunately, he lives 8 hours away from me, and I just couldn't come up with the money.  A month ago, I sent an email, asking if the forecart was still available.  He said it was, and so I started planning to put away money for it.  Then 2 weeks ago, I got an email from him, stating that he needed to sell everything hitch related to clean out the barn and that he was dropping the price on everything.  I could not believe the price tag he put on things.  I talked with my wife, and we decided to take advantage of this great offer.

I planned to purchase the pioneer forecart (came with single shafts, team pole, and 2 implement seats), and a team set of new, 2 strap breeching, biothane harness (with new 25" collar, used 28" collar, bridles, lines, and collar pads).  I got another email detailing other things that were also for sale.  A nice meadowbrook cart, a sweet 4 wheeled marathon type buggy, wagon springs, and other harness/tack items.  The price tag on these items were unreal.  I sent an email to my teamster friends here, and soon found buyers for all this stuff.  I would haul it all back for them.

So last weekend had me heading to meet up with Arnold Isom and his lovely wife at their ranch out in Moulton TX.  The first stop on my trip though, was to purchase a draft sized saddle that I had found on craigslist.  It was incredibly priced, and I really liked the idea of having 2 saddles that fit my drafts.  So I had to stop and pick it up.  Now, I was riding my motorcycle, so I had to strap the saddle to the back of it..  I'm sure it was quite a sight to see.  I only had to ride like that for the rest of the 5 hour trip towards Houston.  :)  The picture shows it pretty well.

I spent the night at my in-laws in Houston, and then the next day I headed out to meet with the Isom's.  I had borrowed a rig with a trailer to pick up all the goodies I was going to be getting from my in-laws.  It was a beautiful drive, but that could've just been because I knew I would be getting 2 things that I have wanted for years.  The weather was great, and the scenery was very pleasant.  All in all, this was the beginning of what would be a fabulous day.

Arnold and his wife were so wonderful.  They were friendly as can be, and I consider them to be very good people.  We chatted a whole lot about horses, and Arnold then opened up his shop to me, to show me all his stuff.  We looked things over, and I soon began  making my list of things that I wanted to buy.  Lucky for me, I followed Arnolds advice and brought some extra money.  This was a shop full of a lifetime of acquired draft hitch items.  I felt like a kid in a toy store with money!  :)  And boy did I spend the money.  After it was all said and done, I had purchased the team harnesses, forecart, meadowbrook cart, 4 wheeled buggy, a work sled, a set of team hafflinger harnesses, a single set of hafflinger harness, an extra team pole, 3 sets of driving lines, 4 horse sized collars, 7 wagon springs, a half dozen drafts sized nylon halters, various quarter straps/pole straps, extra SS harness hardware, and some yokes/eveners.  I really felt like I cleaned him out.

After we had added up the total cost of it all, we took a break, and he showed me his barn.  I have never seen a barn that was so well planned out and built as this barn.  I will be using the layout of this barn as a plan for when I eventually build mine.  Perhaps I will draw up my plans and post them in the future so you can see how well this barn was thought out.  Arnold and his wife were VERY pleasant to visit with.  We never stopped talking.

After a nice break, we set at the task of loading all the gear I had purchased onto a 18 foot trailer.  This was not going to be an easy task, and so we got out the tape measure, and set about deciding what the best way to go about this would be.  One thing I have learned about myself though, is that when I am determined, I find a way to make things happen.  Soon the trailer was loaded up and tied down properly.  Saying goodbye to the Isom's was a little hard to do.  In the half day I had spent with them, I truly felt like I had gained a set of grandparents.  They were so fun, so nice, and so fun to talk to, that I sure didn't move fast to roll out of there.  I hope to visit them again with my wife and son.  There are just some people you cross paths with in this life that are worth hanging onto.  The Isoms are that way for me.

I drove to my In-laws house near Houston, and had to unload all the gear.  I had borrowed a trailer to get the gear, and my wife would be coming down the next day with our trailer.  I got everything unloaded and then took some pictures of the treasures I had picked up.  I was a happy boy.

When my wife arrived with our trailer, I realized this was going to be quite a task.  My trailer was 2 feet shorter and 1 foot less wide than the first trailer I had loaded them onto.  This would require a different scheme.  My mother-in-law hovered around as I loaded everything.  I think she didn't believe I would fit it all onto the trailer.  I did though, and have the picture to prove it.

The drive home was nice.  A few days later I met up with Roger and Bobby, my teamster friends who purchased all the other stuff I bought.  I bet it was pretty funny to see 3 teamsters all bright eyed and  bushy tailed at the new toys they'd just acquired.  Bobby was very happy with the meadowbrook cart and his single hafflinger harness, and Roger was thrilled with his 4 wheeled buggy, team hafflinger harness, wagon springs, and horse collars.

So ... chalk 2 things off my want list.  I now have a pioneer forecart, and I also have a team set of biothane harnesses.  WOO HOO!  I also ended up with some new matching halters, a nice metal runner sled, and all kinds of miscellaneous harness straps and hardware.  I guess the thing at the top of my list now is a horse drawn sickle mower.  Keep your eyes open for me.  Looking for a IH #9 high gear.  :)

Update on working with Nellie

I figured I should give an update to last Saturday's work session with Nellie.

I kept her tied up, and she wasn't too happy about it, but she mellowed out, and soon seemed complacent about the situation.  She knew she was there, and that she wasn't moving.  I posted my blog, and talked to some people in my yahoo draft group about the situation.  A friend there suggested that I do that tapping desensitization with the lead rope in my hand, instead of having her tied.  I thought long and hard about it, and decided that maybe I should try that.  I still had some daylight, so I figured I'd go for it.

Nellie was still being a little pushy with me, but not as bad.  I rubbed her and showed her that I loved her.  Then we started the training.  I reached my hand out, and rested it on her neck, and then started tapping.  She jumped back, and drug me back about 10 feet. 

Now this is where different training philosophies come into play.  I can see 2 ways to correct this behavior.  1) when they rear, keep constant pressure and do not let them get any relief from it till they step forward (HANG ON TO THE LEAD ROPE) or 2) give slack and then make the horse work hard afterwards (Give slack when they rear, followed by a nice 5-10 minutes of disengaging the rear end or backing routines).  One way send the message "rearing gets you nothing", and the other sends the message "you can rear, but you're going to get worked hard if you do".  This is how it makes sense in my mind right now.  So ... since I am young, ignorant, and stupid, I went with option 1.  I don't want this horse to think that they get anything by doing this.  I will always be on the end of that line, and that will hopefully discourage it.

So I hung on, and kept extreme pressure on the lead line till she stopped moving and stepped back towards me.  As soon as she was done pulling back, my hand went right back to her neck and tapped again.  Once again she pulled back, but this time only pulled me 5 feet.  I followed that by immediately tapping on her neck again.  After that, she started to calm.  I worked her for 15 minutes on this.  By the end, she was standing calm and not flinching at all.  I was pinching and poking all over the right side of her neck and she was fine.  Surprisingly, on the left side of her neck (where he mane falls), she was not jumpy.  She had no problem with me tapping that side.

I sat there, poking, pinching, and what not, and she was giving me a cocked hoof, and she was licking her lips.  She was relaxed.  I decided to call my wife, and see if we could possibly give the shots.  My wife came out, and within 20 minutes we had the shots given.  I held the line, and my wife just pinched, prodded, and what not.  Nellie would circle, and circle, and my wife would stay right on her.  Then she'd calm down a bit, and we'd praise her.  then my wife would poke and pinch some more, and then insert the needle.  Nellie would then circle another half circle away. and we'd keep at her, until she finally would relax and my wife could finish injecting the vaccine.  We did a strangles vaccine, and that took some doing.  This vaccine is applied with a 6 inch tube that you stick up the nose so that the vaccine can be absorbed by the mucus membranes.  Nellie was not fond of this, but we did eventually get it done.

I have to take a second to brag on my wife here.  The horses are my thing.  My wife is sometimes intimidated by the size of them, and my horse Lily picked up on that and would give her hell.  This REALLY made my wife intimidated.  Well ... when she came out to do the shots, my wife was in Vet Tech mode.  She did everything right.  She was assertive, and confident.  She applied pressure as part of desensitizing, and kept at it, even when Nellie would try to step forward on her.  She would respond to those movements by popping Nellie in the nose and letting her know she was not to crowd her.  She did great.  My wife could be a wonderful horse trainer if she wanted.  She is very good at communicating her will towards animals, and then helping the animal figure it out.  I was very impressed with her.

So ... after the shots were done, I was very excited.  However, Nellie was still a bit pushy, so I decided she was going back to being tied.  I tied her up, and put a full hay bag in front of her with some water.  And she forgot all about her cares as she went to munching on hay.

I checked on her multiple times through the night, and she was fine.  Just standing there.  The next morning I filled the hay bag again, and she was very grateful for that.  I would also take the time to pet her and talk nice to her anytime I was within the vicinity.

That afternoon, I decided to have an official training session with her, to check her attitude.  I grabbed my trusty carrot stick, and the training started.  Nellie was a tad uneasy with the carrot stick at first, especially since this was the first time she had seen me with it.  I rubbed her all over with it though, and she soon realized that it wasn't a scary thing, and that it was just an extension of me.  We then went to work.  The difference in attitude was amazing.  I had 2 ears and both eyes the whole time.  She never crowded me, or tried to rear back.I did some basic tossing of the carrot stick rope all over her for desensitizing, and she relaxed very quickly and was fine with it.  I then led her, and backed her.  She backed surprisingly well.  I then decided to try and lunge her.

You can tell she had some time put on her at one point (the 60 days of training that I was told she had).  I took the lead rope in my right hand, and pointed to the right with it, and clicked.  She started walking right away, and did very nice circles around me, not pulling on the lead line, just doing as big of circles as I had lead line for.  I was impressed.  She remembered the queue for starting the lunge.  She was VERY rusty on stopping though.  I had to really get after her to stop.  That's fine though, we can work with that.  I then took the lead line in my left hand, and pointed left and clicked.  She started walking to the left right away.

It was a great session.  She did so well.  She is a quick learner, and once you get her out of her lead mare/bitchy attitude, she's great.  :)  After this I went and tied her, and brushed her all over.  I also worked with her feet.  I lifted each one 3 times for short intervals.  She was okay with all of them but her rear right foot, but by the 3rd try on that one, she was more at ease with it.  I then applied the hoof pick to each of them and cleaned them out.  She did just fine with this.

She had a wonderful afternoon.  Her attitude was different, and it was fun working her.  As a reward, she got turned back in with the other horses and the round bale.  I think Rachael enjoyed having Nellie away from them.  :)  Those two just seem to hate each other.

So ... that's that.  Good things are happening.  Just gotta make sure I find the time to keep going. 

Nellie in Time Out!

Today was the first good day we've had in quite a while.  Probably near 60 degrees outside, and despite a bit of mud, it's very pleasant.  Today was the day for shots and coggins for all 3 horses, and for Rachael to get her shoes re-set.  I figured things would go pretty good, and since Nellie is still new to me, I figured it might be interesting to see how she responds.

She haltered fine, and tied up good.  Now, Nellie has a problem with being tied.  She thinks that it is her right to side pass over the top of you while tied.  She has no respect, and slowly I've gotten her to give heed to me.  She also is used to being able to rear back and escape whatever is holding her.  I saw this behavior when I was first trying to get her in the trailer, and so I only use a rope halter on her, and my lead rope has one of those "clinton anderson" latches with the twisty part.  Nellie was awesome for me while I groomed her up.  Cockleburrs in her ears, no problem.  brushing her anywhere, go right ahead.  Then came time for the shot.  She lost it.  She tried to side pass over my wife, and was met with my first.  This led to a discovery.  Rubbing on this horse, she is just fine.  But if you tap your finger on her neck, she goes nuts.  I literally watched her temperament get hotter and hotter as I just sat and did this to her. 

This is difficult for me, because as I've been taught, I need to just keep doing that till she relaxes and realizes that it's no problem.  It's a part of basic desensitizing.  Well ... Nellie got hotter, and hotter and hotter!  I was barely tapping on her neck.  She was trying to run me over, and then reached the point where she was full on rearing back and trying desperately to escape.  I kept going and going, and she got worse and worse.  At this point, I nearly got pawed when she reared back one time, so I turned the taps into half tap half rubs and got her to stand still.  I started tapping again, and she got all worked up again.  (Note:  by tap, I mean, barley touching her neck with your finger over and over and over.)

So ... I left her tied, and decided that we were not going to be able to do anything with her today.  She's way too worked up, and I don't want to make "getting shots" a tramatic experience.  I decided I'd leave her tied and let her get used to being tied up.

We turned our attention to Pam, and I tell ya ... the occasional spookiness Pam shows, is made up by how sweet and mellow she is when are brushing her.  She relaxed completely, and didn't even flinch for her shots.  Our Vet recommended we vaccinate for strangles this spring, and so we even did that for the first time.  This is applied through a long tube in the nose.  I thought for sure we'd get some bad behavior, but nope.  Pam stood there and was a dream.  Love that horse.

All the time this was going on, Rachael was getting her new shoes on.  Now, my farrier found out that in his haste this morning, he grabbed size 6 nails, instead of 8's from his dark shed.  This meant he ran out of nails.  Rather than have him drive 45 minutes home, I drove over to a friends a few miles away and borrowed some from him.

Well ... while I was gone, I got a call from the wife.  Nellie just broke the rope on her lead, and is running wild.  "Ok ... I'll be back quick.  Shut the gate and I'll take care of it in a minute".  2 minutes later ... RING.  "Nellie ran up and down the pen, and got Pam all worked up and excited, and Pam ran right through the fence.  Now they are both running around like crazy."  Anyone who has horses may understand why the next words out of my mouth were cuss words.  In my mind, there is nothing worse than HAVING to fix a fence.  Yes, it's easy, but I have other stuff to do instead of worrying about that.

I got home, and Amanda and my farrier had gotten things ok.  Pam was back in her stall, and my farrier had caught Nellie.  Come to find out, she didn't break the rope ... her "clinton anderson approved" latch had just popped open when she reared back on it.  Just my luck.  Maybe I should just stick with bull snaps.  Anyway ... I walked over to Nellie, and she was already pissy at being tied up.  And like a good parent, the punishment came swift.  "That's it young lady ... you are in time out!"

The farrier finisehd up Rachael, and Rachael got her shots.  The entire time we just hear the sounds of Nellie pawing the trailer, and moving side to side over and over.  We payed no attention to her.  After that, I fixed the fence, and cleaned everything up.  I walked over to Nellie with a brush, and brushed on her some.  Then she tried to side pass over me again.  So ... She got hit, and I decided that this horse is in an indefinite time out.  I took a water container over and put it near her head where she can reach it.  Tonight I'll hang a hay bag for her.  She can stay there till she drops this attitude and realizes that I am the boss!

Don't you hate when you have to be the mean parent?!?  That's my day today.  Nellie is going to make a very sweet and fun horse to work.  I really like her.  We just need to reinforce in her mind that when it comes to human interaction, she is NOT the lead mare.  I AM!

Oh ... and one more thing ... Oliver Jetton is the best draft farrier in North Texas!!  (as far as I'm concerned).  He's 60 years old and watching him do the work is awesome!  The horse stays calm and relaxed the entire time.  I'm so glad he's my farrier! 

Great ride today!

It's January and 60+ degrees in Texas.  Gotta love it.  I had to take the opportunity to get out and ride.

Rachael was happy for the attention.  I had to re-clinch some of the nails in her front feet.  I heard a clicking sound as she walked, and figured that wasn't good.  I tightened up the nails as best I could, and hoped for the best.  I think it's time to have the farrier back out to re-set the shoes.  I sure wish I had the mastery of that skill to do it for myself (and the toned muscles to be able to do the job without being plain tuckered out).

The ride was good.  Beautiful scenery, and nothing eventful happening.  I really had a good time.  I rode with 2 friends from my saddle club right here in Campbell. 

After the ride, I got to help my friend Ann with her new horse.  She rescued a horse about 6 months ago.  It was in a field and just all ribs, so one day she saw someone in the field and she stopped and asked if she could have the poor starving horse.  They agreed and so Ann has spent the last 6 months putting groceries in her belly.  She's fattened up nicely.  She's over 25 years old, and Ann is trying to see what exactly she can do.  Ann is really good at working her horses, and she had lunged this horse without any problem.  Well, today Ann wanted to try and actually ride her in a round pen.  I could tell that both she and our friend Linda (who is also an AWESOME horse woman) were a little hesitant at the thought of hopping on this horses back for the first time.  So I volunteered, cuz I'm young, stupid, and ignorant.  ;)

She lunged great.  When I stopped her from lunging in one direction, she immediately faced me, and then went the other direction.  We all cracked a smile, cuz that behavior meant that this horse has been worked in a round pen quite a bit in her life.  We slowly worked up and eventually I was in the saddle, and riding.  She did really well.  She had a funny gate that I sure wasn't use to.  I was real proud of her.  The only scary moment for me was once when I asked her to move and she busted out into a full lope.  It wasn't her fault though.  I tell my girls to step off by kissing at them.  I've become aware that many trainers use the kiss noise to move a horse from a walk to a lope.  So ... I figure this was the case.  I had to make sure I clicked (which was hard for me).

Sure was a good day.  Always is a good day when it's over 60, sun shining, and playing with horses.

Ground Driving Nellie

It's pretty safe to say that if you give me a day with nothing scheduled, and the sun shining, I'll find a way to fit horses into it.  This happened to me this past Saturday.  I could've just gone on a wagon ride with the team, but decided instead to work Nellie, the new girl.

My goals were pretty simple.  I wanted to attempt to get the harness on her.  When it comes to my training, I try to make a goal that I feel fairly comfortable with, but I always leave it up to the horse.  I want my training session to challenge them and make them learn something.

First things first ... I groomed her all up and made her all pretty.  While doing this, I enforced our ground rules, and made sure she knew not to move in on me, or move while I'm working on her.  She did this very well.  On her feet, I've been lifting and quickly putting them back down.  I'm still working up some trust with her on that, and am taking baby steps towards her just letting me have her feet completely.

Once all clean and ready, I brought over a collar.  I put it in front of her face and let her smell it.  Nellie didn't act scared of it at all.  She mildly sniffed it, just cuz it was in front of her nose, but really didn't seem to care one way or the other that it was there.  I rubbed it against her shoulder a bit, and she just sat there, rear foot cocked, totally relaxed.  I unbuckled the collar, and put it on her without any problems.  She didn't care at all.

Next I grabbed my nylon harness.  I did the same thing with it and let her smell it.  Once again she didn't care, and to my surprise, she had no issues with me throwing it over her back.  She just stood there and showed me what cold blood really means.  :)

It took me about 15 minutes to adjust the harness to fit her.  Once it was on, I let her stand for a few minutes and just watched her.  She was calm, and very relaxed.  I then untied her and led her around a bit.  The noise of the harness, and the jingling and clanking of the metal parts did not even phase her.  I was very happy about this.  I still hadn't challenged Nellie yet, so I decided to keep going forward.

Up next, I put the bridle on.  She didn't object to this, and even after it was attached, she just stood there, chewing on the bit.  I talked calmly to her since this was probably her first time with blinders on.  She was pretty relaxed still, so I led her around with everything hooked up.  She was perfect, and did exactly what I wanted.

Well ... the next step it so actually ground drive her.  So I grabbed my single lines, and started hooking them up.  Got it all on, and unhooked the lead rope.  She stood perfectly.  Then came the fun.

Nellie has never been worked on the ground before.  This means that she had no idea what the cues meant.  When I told her to step up, her ears cocked back and she knew I wanted something.  We then began a battle to keep her from turning around.  She wanted to face me, and so I had to really work the lines to keep her head facing away from me.  It was during this, that I realized how valuable a crupper is on a harness!  :)  After she realized that she could not turn around and face me, she started just backing up fast.  I kept telling her woah, but she wouldn't stop.  I had to start smacking her in the butt hard with my lines to start letting her know that was not what I wanted from her.  Finally she stopped and I let her sit for a minute.  I then started telling her to step up and clicking and kissing at her, and she started backing up again.  We did this for another five minutes, till she finally took a few steps forward.  As soon as she did this, I let go of all tension on the lines, and told her what a good girl she was.  She felt the looseness of the lines and immediately stopped.  We went through this a few more times, and she finally got it.  She started walking forward and I praised her and praised her.

She is really good on bit pressure, and turns her head at the slightest pressure.  She also stops very good.  One woah and some tension on both lines and she stops perfectly.  If I was facing away from the other horses, she would step off very good.  But when the other horses were in her sight, she was a bit of a butt.  I worked her for about 30-45 minutes just ground driving.  Lots of it was nice and she did really good.  Occasionally she would forget what step up meant, and we'd wrestle to keep her facing away from me and going forward.  I finally ended on a really good note where she went for an entire figure 8 on my property with no problems.  Always gotta stop on a good point.  At this point, I took the following picture.

After that, I praised her a ton, and pet her really good.  I then left her tied, and went in the house to get myself a drink.  It was good for her to stand with all the equipment on after a break.  She stood well, and didn't get too impatient.

After that I took off the harness without any problems, groomed her again, and turned her out.

She did very well.  I'm really excited about working her.  She's smart, and she figures out what I want pretty well.  I'm also happy about her response to pressure.  We'll need a few more lessons, but I'm very happy with her.  She was very stressed during Saturdays lessons, and the amount of sweat she had worked up showed that to me.  After a few more of these sessions, she should be ready to pull something.  I'm real happy with her!

Introducing Nellie

A week and a half ago, I brought home a new horse.  My family is getting concerned that I'm addicted to Belgians.  This new horse is a 9 year old Belgian mare named Nellie.  Nellie came to me from the Bev at the Double M Warhorse Ranch in Terrell, TX (www.doublemwarhorseranch.com).  So as far as I can tell, here's her story.

Nellie used to be owned by a spur maker.  The spur maker decided that he was going to make Nellie his riding horse.  He paid someone to put 60 days on her, then started riding.  Apparently on one ride, Nellie decided that she was not going to go through a gate.  You can imagine what a spur maker might have on his heels, and he made use of them on Nellie.  2 days later he woke up in the hospital.  After that, he wanted nothing to do with Nellie.  Bev at the Double M Warhorse Ranch was contacted and took the horse in. 

She's really pretty, and has some nice action in her trot.  Her papers are pretty good too.  Bev kept her for over a year as a brood mare, but right now with all the clydesdales she is bringing in, she needed the room.  And that's how she ended up with me.

She's a gorgeous horse!  I really love her.  Her hair is really thick.  She's a smaller build than my other horses, but is just as tall.  She's got a whole lot of spunk to her too.  Working with her reminds me a lot of working with Lily.  It's been kind of nice.

I just got in from our first real work session.  Ground manners and grooming were the topics.  Ground manners are something we're going to really have to work into her.  While tied, she moves around a lot and does not care if you are there or not.  Today she responded well with me just popping her in the side when she would try to move in on me.  She's really sweet, but makes you work for her love, and she's very responsive to pressure.  I had a good time working with her.

My goals with her are to get her into hitch working shape.  This would mean I could do 3 abreast for all my farm work, and I'd love to try and learn to drive a unicorn hitch with the 3 of them.  I'm really excited about the future of this horse.

Nellie has also taken the lead mare spot here.  She and Rachael can't seem to get along.  They still get in fights occasionally.  Rachael has let Nellie have the lead mare spot, but is not going along with it willingly.  Pam on the other hand, is Nellie's new best friend.  She is by her side constantly and with how submissive she is, Nellie has no problems with her.

More fun to come!