Horse Taming Central

It's been an intensive week for horse taming with three students here. They had to ratchet themselves into a horseman's state of mind and search for that balance of assertiveness and gentleness that invokes the appropriate level of submission and trust in the equine mind. Last night it really helped them to watch a video by Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling and then part of a video by Brad Cameron. You could not find two more contrasting clinicians, but discussing the differences was a good exercise in thinking things through. Today there was more human self-confidence on display, the animals behaved better, and even the mules had more respect.

We have been testing the six animals on the 100 pt checklist of Behaviors a Horse Should Know. Today we started the Movement section and my reluctance to push my animals into much movement took its toll on their scores. We'll finish the testing and then create a list of training items for each animal. It will help broaden the students experience quite a bit. Just the test itself really opened their eyes to what the animals could and couldn't do and how different each one is.

Chaco has made the most changes in the last week. He lost his aloof demeanor and started acting like a love-starved puppy. He is learning and remembering his lessons. I am not sure what set this in motion except it started when I used the grinder on his hooves and did some yoga on him. Jerri has become totally enamored with him and spends her time playing Chaco training games towards getting him under saddle.

I have been sitting on Cisco. He is calm and likes the job. In a few days we will get back to driving, but for today, we are enjoying the quiet time we spend together in the stall. While I was sitting on him a small herd of elk came broiling up out of the bosque (forest) and swarmed over the road on their way to the pond for a drink. All the other horses went on high alert and snorted around the corral. Cisco turned his head but he didn't move his feet. I slid off and we both went running to the fence to see the elk. He stood with his neck pressed against me watching for more of the shaggy brown critters, then, when the bosque was empty, we went back to our "ride". Cisco is a huggy horse and he will stand with his neck bent around me in a very protective way. I decided that I should ride him barefooted (me) because I was worried that my boots my scrape his back when I am getting on him. I climb up on a feeder and he comes to pick me up (he's 16-2hh). I jump up on his back, swing on, and hold on to the mane. He bobs his head down to where his ears are level with his withers, the signal that he gives to show that he is not afraid and we can proceed. I call it "checking his sanity level". If his head went high, I would slip down and find something else to do. I am debating with myself as to whether or not I want to stand on his back. He'll tell me if its too much.

I'm going on Friday to visit the mares and the donkeys. I hear that the burros have been staying near the corrals, but that the mares have gone deep into the range and are only glimpsed off in the distance. I might bring Paisley home, I don't know. It would be nice to have another saddle horse to work with since we have so much horse training energy on tap right now.