Pushing The Boundaries

So yesterday I continued working with Faith and the watering can. It became clear very soon after the start of the session, that Faith really did not want to play with water, no matter how far away it was being kept from her. Faith took herself off to the stable and put her head in the back corner, with her bum facing the door.

This made it pretty darn clear to me that she wasn’t happy with the idea of water anywhere near her, and although still being very polite about the whole thing, she was undoubtedly starting to feel defensive.

Now this left me with a dilemma. Firstly, as you may have gathered, I believe working with the horse at liberty, at least to some degree, is really important. I believe that allowing the horse to have the opportunity to remove themselves from the situation means it is less likely that they will feel the need to exhibit the ‘big’ behaviours of biting, kicking, barging etc. because they can choose to leave, rather than be forced into defending themselves.

I would also normally say that if your horse has got to the point where they feel the need to get physical with you, then you have totally missed the huge range of little signs they have been giving you , that lets you know that they really aren’t that happy with what you are doing, and please can you stop, or at least go back a few steps. Horses are amazingly tolerant creatures, and I do believe a ‘normal’ horse (ie one without a history of abuse) will go out of their way not to hurt you, unless you push them beyond the point of tolerance and make them feel threatened.

At the same time however, I am also aware that to let Faith simply opt out completely is not going to help her learning in the long run. Comfort zones and boundaries are there to be pushed, albeit incrementally, if our learning is to progress.

So I had to make an on the spot decision. Did I call it a day there, or did I hang on in there and try to make even the tiniest bit of progress? Rightly or wrongly, I chose the latter.

So I simply stood and waited keeping my posture neutral and relaxed, looking off into the distance, until Faith felt comfortable enough to turn around and stand resting a leg, and looking at me. With her like this, we started again. I dribbled a little water into the drain about twenty feet or so away from her, and when she continued to stand looking at me, I clicked and treated. Basically all I was asking her to do was simply watch me from her safe zone, and she was rewarded for that.

Also in my mind was Alex Kurland’s advice to administer the treat from where you wanted the horse to be. So although I may have captured Faith standing in the right spot with the click, by the time I crossed the yard to get to her, she may have stepped back. Therefore, in order to get her treat, I gave it to her from a position in which she had to step forward again.

After a few successful attempts at this, we called it a day.

This afternoon we picked up from there. Initially Faith was happy to be back out working on the yard again, but after a few minutes, clearly started to feel a bit worried and took herself back to the stable, although this time she did not turn her back on me.

We worked with her in the stable and me on the yard as we did yesterday, and to my delight, she felt confident enough to come out onto the yard again.

So we made what I felt was a pretty big step this evening. By the end of the fifteen minute session, I could pour the water on the ground in quite a splashy manner from about four feet away, and while not completely relaxed, she did choose to stand perfectly still while I did so. This is definite progress.

I still don’t know if I did the right thing by keeping a degree of pressure on. I would be interested to hear opinions on this. It is always a difficult thing to decide how much is too much, and how much is just enough. So much depends on the horse I guess, as well as how well you know her, and how willing you are as a trainer to be led by the horse’s reaction , and not by the desire to get results.
It’s a tricky one.

Watering Can Can

Right so hopefully now that the summer hols are upon us, I have been able to make a more organised childcare arrangement with Mum so I can have the time to work with Faith on a more regular basis.

So yesterday afternoon, I found myself at liberty to do some training with my filly. Actually, I guess now that she is four, she is officially a mare, but whe will always be 'the filly' to me!

I didn't really have a plan for what I should be doing, so I did ten minutes or so of rope desensitisation. Basically I want Faith to get used to ropes etc round her body, for when we start long reining, and also ropes wiggling around her feet and legs, for when I fall over when we are long reining, and let go of the reins. Basically I don't want her to take fright and run off, should she find a rope or a long rein around her feet. I've also owned a pony who was terrified of ropes etc. on the floor, and when you have a pony with a fear like that, you are often surprised at how frequently that situation will present itself. I think it's called Sod's law!

Anyway, we have already done quite a bit of this, and Faith is now entirely bored with me flinging ropes all over her neck and back and swishing them around her front and back legs and even allowing the rope to coil around them.

So after revisiting this, I was wondering what to do next, when Tilly, having taken a long drink, popped her head over the stable door, which Faith happened to be standing next to, and dribbled water all over the floor.

Well you would have thought Faith had had an electric shock. She is terrified of water. Here was our training opportunity, I fetched a watering can.

So we did a little targetting with the watering can. Fine. I then poured a little water on to the yard. Faith did not like that one bit, and took herself off to bed. I sat down and waited for a bit, and after a few minutes Faith re-emerged from her stable and looked prepared to play again. So I took the watering can a little further down the yard, and once again pured a tiny dribble of water on to the floor. Faith stood still, so I clicked and treated her. She wasn't terribly happy though, and after repeating this a couple of times she took herself back to her stable.

I wanted to end on a good note though, so when Faith once again poked her head around the stable door, I poured a little water out on to the yard, and clicked and treated her for standing still and watching. We did this a couple more times, then called it a day.

This is going to be a really interesting training issue, and if I can get to the point where I can pour water on her legs, then I know that Faith really has placed her trust in me. Anyway, as ever, there is absolutely no rush. We shall get there when we get there.

A Very Polite Young Lady!

So today I tackled two main training angles. The first was tying up practise, and the second was revisiting the leg hosing shaping plan.

I decided as far as the tying up situation goes, that instead of actually tying Faith up, I would put her on the extra long leadrope, passed through the tie ring, and just placed over the stable door. If she pulled back, the rope would run through, and I could catch it and just let it go through my hands, rather than tie her up properly, and have her brought up short.

So I had her attached to the rope slipped through the ring and over the stable door, and picked out her feet while she stood calmly and quietly, then for a few short moments, gave her a little groom, and gave her a scratch while she stood still for a few minutes.

We then carried on with the leg hosing shaping plan. As we had only got as far as the start of step two last night, I went back to the beginning and asked her to target the sponge, and as we progressed, I managed to get her comfortable with the sponge on and around her knee.

At this point we hit a snag. As Faith is a very polite young lady, and so good at having her feet picked up, as soon as she felt something running down her leg, she obligingly picked up her hoof, expecting me to be picking it out.

So my timing had to be extra good, and I had to make sure that I clicked her just before she picked up her foot, so that she understood that I wanted her to keep her foot on the ground. Fortunately, she cottoned on to this very quickly, and soon she was happy for me to run the sponge down to just below her knee.

Shaping Up!

Getting back into things after what seems like a rather long winter, has led me to consider the use of shaping plans in training. Beacause we don’t live in an ideal world, and because most people are in the position of having to juggle their horse training with other important aspects of life, I do feel it helps to have a certain degree of structure in what we do.

I found some excellent shaping plans on Ben Hart’s website www.hartshorsemanship.com, and chose a few that I felt were particularly pertinent to where we are right now, and where I am aiming for in the near-ish future. The ones I chose were preparing for veterinary examinations, safe leading, long lining, and shaping for confidence and trust.

Reading through these brilliant shaping plans also gave me the confidence to start writing one of my own for shaping for hosing legs.

Before we embarked on that, I gave Faith a nice groom, frankly the most thorough one she has had for a long while now. I have begun tying Faith up to have her feet picked out. Now I know Faith was taught to tie up before I bought her, but I have to say, I have always been a little concerned about the prospect of her panicking a bit if she gets spooked, and doing something unreasonably dramatic.

If I’m honest, I just feel so much safer and calmer when working with a horse that is at liberty. I know that if something untoward happens, both myself and the horse can quickly and easily remove ourselves from the situation, regroup, and come back to what we were doing when we both feel ready. It also makes me acutely aware, when training, of when I have perhaps pushed a bit too far, as Faith will simply walk off if she feels uncomfortable. With a horse as reactive as Faith, this has proved to be a strategy that has worked really well.

But given that she is very good to groom and have her feet done etc. at liberty, I felt it wasn’t too unreasonable to re-introduce the tying up, even if it was just for the few minutes when I was picking out her feet. Faith has been very good at this, and it is clear that she understands that if she takes the slack out of the line for whatever reason, she needs to step closer to the tie ring again to release the pressure. In a calm situation this has been absolutely fine, but I was still unsure what she would do if spooked.

Tonight I found out. The past couple of evenings, that yard has been rather wet when I have brought the horses in. Normally Faith is fine with this, but she has a tendency, if spooked, to suddenly start panicking a bit about her footing. This almost inevitably leads to a bit of a ’Bambi on ice’, type situation, which escalates until she is finally on something grippy (usually in her stable) at which point she starts to calm down.

So Faith was a little bit ‘looky’ tonight. I put her headcollar on in the stable, and let her loose on the yard for a few minutes to wander around and sniff the ground a bit and establish that all was quite safe. When she was calm and happy, I tied her up and picked out one front hoof, and one hind. Then something spooked her, and for the first time I saw her quite deliberately pull away. However, when she felt the pressure on the headcollar, her first instinct was to turn back towards the ring to release the pressure. This was good, but I could see from her eye that she was still very worried. So I just slipped two fingers in the noseband of her headcollar and encouraged her to stand just where she was, with lots of ‘aaahhhh good girl’. After about ten seconds, I unclipped the headcollar and let her loose on the yard again to release the tension.

So although that was all fine, and in fact pretty good for a horse that hasn’t really been tied up at all for two years, I think I might invest in Ben’s ‘tying up’ shaping plan, and just revisit the whole thing from the beginning, as much for my own peace of mind as anything else.

Having given Faith a nice groom, I thought I would embark on my own shaping plan for leg hosing, which, although well underway, has already reached page three without as yet even mentioning a hosepipe!

So steps one and two, which is what I was aiming for tonight, was to target a big yellow sponge, and perhaps to touch her with it on the shoulder while whe was standing calmly and at liberty. This doesn’t sound very impressive, but given that Faith scarpered to the far end of the yard as soon as she spotted the big sponge, I was very pleased to achieve these two albeit humble stages on the shaping plan! However, she was very brave, and after a few minutes of enthusiastic targetting, she was happy for me to rub her from the top of her left shoulder to her knee with the great big sponge.

So tomorrow I will reapeat the process, and perhaps attempt to move on to touching her right foreleg and shoulder, which is the side of which she is a little more protective.

Just a quickie!

Well it has been an eventful few weeks for Faithy-poo.

As Tilly had to be on box rest because of her lami attack, Faith had to get used to going out in the field on her own. Fortunately we have been able to leave the yard gates open, so that Faith could potter in and out of the yard and field as she likes, and Tilly still got a bit of company now and again.

So Faith has started to become a little more independent, and was quite happy to graze alone in the field as long as she knew she could pop back into the yard to see Tilly when she wanted.

We have also been doing some training with a spray bottle and some water, and she will now happily be sprayed all over, which makes things like applying conditioner/fly spray/ wound spray so much easier.

Our next little project is to work on being able to hose her down. Wish me luck!

Faith has a Guardian Angel

This bank holiday weekend, we finally got around to setting up the Paddock Paradise track again. I was so pleased to do this, as I think it is a wonderful system, and the horses are never more healthy and happy than when they are on it.

So yesterday morning I turned the girls out, and showed them that the track into the ‘firing range’ field was now open.

Unfortunately, i had completely forgotten about the small herd of goats that my neighbout is now grazing in her dog paddocks next to the track that goes into the firing range field. As Faith cantered past the fence, she spotted the goats and took fright, and ran straight into the internal electric fence of the PP system. The fence was on at the time, and as she came in contact with it, she tried to leap it, didn’t quite make it, and got tangled up. I was about 100 yards away at this point, and all I could see was Faith leaping three times in the air like a stag, to the accompanying sound of wooden fence posts snapping. On the third leap, she ran out of slack, and got pulled to the ground. I felt so sick.

By the time I got to the entrance of the field, she had somehow untangled herself, and was standing up looking for Tilly. I spent the next hour dismantling the track, and getting the girls back into their original field. I briefly got the chance to examine Faith, and there didn’t seem to be a mark on her, but she was too worked up to stand still enough to let me get a proper look.

So the girls spent the day in their original paddock, and Ipopped out every hour or so just to check that all was generally well. However, it wasn’t until Mum came across to sit with the boys in the evening, that I got the chance to get the girls in and give Faith a thorough examination. Miraculously, apart from a few small rope burns, she was fine.

I don’t doubt that Faith had an angel looking after her yesterday. The sight of her running into that fence and getting tangled was just one of the most sickening things I have ever seen. Needless to say, I shall be waiting until the herd of goats return home before I think about opening up the PP track again.

A different context....

We started off last night’s session by working on Faith’s separation anxiety. I walked Tilly in and out of the yard, and each time we left, spent a few minutes doing some in- hand work out of sight in the field, before returning to the yard again. Even though we haven’t been working on this for very long, Faith is already showing signs of being much more settled. Last night’s session was the longest we have done yet, and Faith was not box walking, and despite the warm evening, for the first time showed absolutely no signs of sweating up at all. There were a few neighs, and she seems to have a telescopic neck that helps to improve her view from the stable, but other than that, she was pretty calm.

A few months ago, I was dallying with the idea of starting ‘matwork’ with Faith. However, fairly soon after the purchase of a small rubber doormat, I decided for various reasons that matwork wasn’t really for us, and said item has sat in the tack room, gathering dust ever since.

However, I have recently decided that it would be helpful to work on building Faith’s confidence with putting her feet on different things. So to that end, the mat has been dragged from obscurity, and we have been having a play with it on the yard.

In the first instance, in a fit of having completely unrealistic expectations, I put the mat on the floor, and asked Faith to target it. To be fair, she did get within about half an inch of it with her nose, and scooted past it a couple of times. Clearly though, it looked to her like a gaping chasm had just opened up in the yard, and given the fact that she will still baulk at the thought of stepping over a very shallow drainage ditch, I don’t quite know what I was thinking in trying to get her to step on a doormat. Cue much slapping of forehead!

So I picked it up, and held it, and we did some targetting with it. No problem, Faith likes this game. In fact the targetting reached an absolute frenzy when Tilly got involved over the stable door, and the two girls got quite competitive over targetting the mat!

So then I decided to get Faith to target it nearer and nearer the ground. This worked really well, until I let go of the mat, and that was just a step too far for her. So we went back a few steps, and targetted it with me holding it while it was on the floor, and left it at that. It just goes to show though, that it is not the object itself that is the problem, it is the context that the object is in that can often raise difficulties. Faith doesn’t have a problem with mats per se, she just doesn’t like “mats lying on the ground looking like a horse eating hole” which is perfectly understandable!

I think the fact that it is black doesn’t help, so I might invest in a hessian, or raffia one as well. Hmmmm.

Back to work....

Not Faith, obviously, nor me (God forbid!), but poor old Tilly. After having the best part of a year off work due to my pregnancy, the poor old girl is facing being conscripted once again into the world of honest labour, hauling my fat butt around the place.

Now obviously this will mean that Faith will have to face being in either the field or the stable on her own, now that Tommy is no longer with us. Now I’m quite sure that Faith would be absolutely fine in the field on her own if I was working with Tilly in the school, because the school adjoins both paddocks, so there would only be a fence between us.

However, if I wanted to take Tilly out on a hack, or if I wanted to keep Faith in the stable while Tilly and I were in the school, then obviously we would be out of sight, and I need to know that Faith would be OK with that. I could of course keep her out in the field on her own while Tilly and I were out and about. This would mean that she would still be able to see my neighbours horses who are two fields away. In theory this should help lessen her anxiety, but having said that, it didn’t seem very soothing to Tommy who injured himself badly in that same situation. So badly in fact that he was never sound again. Now it should go without saying that if Faith injured herself tomorrow and could never be ridden, she would still have a home with me for life, and be loved every bit as much as ever. But still, I’d rather she didn’t hurt herself. Also I think it is important that she should be able to stay in the stable by herself and not worry about it, as who knows what scenarios may arise in the future.

So with all this in mind, as well as the fact that Tilly is not in any physical condition to begin proper ‘work’ right now, I thought I would combine Tilly’s gradual re-introduction to ridden exercise, with helping Faith overcome her seperation anxiety.

So this evening I tacked Tilly up, mounted and just stood next to Faith’s stable for a minute or so. I then rode Tilly through the barn and into the back field, keeping within Faith’s line of sight at all times. Before Faith could get too worried, we turned and came back in and stood next to her stable. We repeated this about six or seven times over the next fifteen minutes or so, staying withing Faith’s line of sight the whole time, but not going back into the yard until she was standing calmly in her stable. After the seventh time, we left it at that.

So the plan is to progress like this in tiny increments, always staying within Faith’s line of sight. When she is happy with us being out in the field for a reasonable amount of time within her sight, then we will start disappearing from her view a second at a time. Obviously if anyone has any other suggestions as to how we should progress, all ideas are gratefully received!

Getting back into the swing....

This was the third beautiful evening that I have been able to get Faith out on to the yard again, and this evening she was visibly more relaxed.

We had a lovely groom, and as I managed to get about half a gallon of conditioner into her mane yesterday, having that brushed through was a more pleasant experience for both of us, and took considerably less time than it normally does. She was also brilliant having all her feet picked up and handled.
Nobody got any electric shocks this evening, although I still can’t work out what the trigger is.

Up until this evening Faith has not crossed the ‘drain of doom’ , even though the yard has been perfectly dry. However, this evening I wondered across to the other side of the yard to get something, and lo and behold Faith followed me! When she decided to go it alone back in the opposite direction however, she felt it necessary to execute an enormous leap over the drain, and nearly crashed into the wall of the stable block on the other side!

My neighbour happened to be exercising her youngster in our hayfield, and her companion mare was going ballistic in her paddock, hooning around and neighing her head off. Faith suddenly became very alert at this point, and grew to about 18hh. I stepped back from her, expecting her to rush towards the yard gate, but she just stood like a very impressive statue staring at the little mare running around the field. I went over and stood by Faith’s shoulder and just started scratching her withers and neck, and within seconds she visibly relaxed, and I clicked and treated every time her head dropped and her muscles relaxed.

I was even more pleased when I asked her to walk away from the spectacle, and follow me into her stable, which she did without a moment’s hesitation. So I gave her her jackpot, and left it at that.

A Shocking Experience!

Just a quick update from me, as Faith and I haven't really been doing anything very exciting.

We have however, encountered a bit of a hitch with our clicker training. Faith and I keep giving each other electric shocks!

This has never happened to me with any other horse, nor does it seem to correspond to what I happen to be wearing, and Faith is always naked anyway. My brushes are made of natural bristles, so it can't be them.

So every once in a while I click and go to give Faith a treat, but instead end up giving her a massive static shock. The poor girl is becoming very suspicious of me indeed, and I am slightly worried that this is going to have an adverse effect on our training. Some people have suggested to me that I wipe her all over with a tumble dryer sheet first. It may not work, but at least she will smell nice!

If anyone else has encountered this problem and found a solution, both Faith and I would be extremely grateful!

Kicking the bucket!

Or to be more accurate, picking up the bucket, of whatever size and shape, and flinging it around the field/yard/stable.

This is Faith’s new pastime. I’ve just been standing at the kitchen window watching Faith trying valiantly to pick up a large tub trug full of ice, and chuck it across the field. Thing is, she can’t get a great purchase on it (possibly because of wobbly teeth), so at the moment she is more dragging, than flinging.

She has also started doing this with the tub trug of water in her stable, which usually becomes the prime target, having thrown both of her feed buckets over the door and out onto the yard. I just hope to goodness she doesn’t overturn it in the stable, as she will give herself an almighty fright if the floor changes colour! Oh and before anyone mentions it, yes, she has plenty to eat. The EEC hay mountain appears in her stable every night, and I always give her more than she can eat, so she isn’t doing this out of hunger. Having said that, I might see if I can get my mitts on a swede or mangold to see if that will entertain her more.

I don’t really mind these shenanigans, it’s just that the rather expensive ‘horse toys’ I bought for her are littering the place, completely untouched......sigh.....

I Love my Farrier!

There, I’ve said it. Seriously though, he is just lovely and brilliant. He came to trim the neds this morning. I had been running around like a headless chook all morning having to haul water from the house to the stables, and grit the yard, as it had started snowing again, while trying to ensure my little boy ate his porridge up and didn’t spill his juice everywhere. So when he arrived, I was a bit frazzled.

My frenetic mood obviously communicated itself to Faith because she was a little unwilling to let me put her headcollar on this morning, and her demeanour told me that she was expecting something exciting to be afoot.

However, as soon as she stepped out on to the yard, and saw my farrier, she visibly relaxed, and stood like an absolute angel while he rasped her feet. Now there aren’t that many young horses that look at a farrier, and clearly think “Oh that’s alright, it’s you, everything is going to be fine.” I feel it is testament to the fact that my farrier is such a great guy, and so damn good at his job, that the sight of him settled my filly this morning, when I clearly had the opposite effect!

As if he couldn’t get any more wonderful in my eyes, he was going to charge me half price for doing Faith’s feet, because he only had to rasp them. I of course refused, but did remind him that our next appointment was two weeks before I am due to give birth, so he needs to brush up on his midwifery skills, and possibly bring hot water and towels with him next time!

Consistencey is the Key...

Leg densitisation is going very well. I have been using a leadrope folded in half and gently swinging it against Faith’s legs so that she is no longer so alarmed at the feeling of things bumping against her legs (rug straps for instance).

I have had to be really spot on with my timing though, as we have done so much work on foot handling, that Faith will lift her foot at the slightest tap on her upper leg. So initially it was a bit of a challenge to ensure that I was clicking the foot being on the ground, rather than the foot being in the air. Faith learns so incredibly fast that it is easy to teach her the ‘wrong’ thing with a bit of bad timing, but she is also pretty forgiving, and is so eager to learn and do the right thing that mistakes are relatively easy to correct. It is testament to the intelligence of her breed that within a couple of days she can effortlessly distinguish between a tap as a cue to lift her leg, and an accidental tap with a rope. It just goes to show really how incredibly tuned in to our body language and intent horses really are, and how they view what we are doing as a whole rather than just the concentrated aspects.

I shall continue to develop this work to get her used to a rope dangling around her feet etc., as no doubt at some point I shall drop the leadrope/longlines, or fall off and the reins will come over her head etc., and I don’t want her to be alarmed by that.

The last few days had really highlighted to me the importance of consistency in training with young horses. I am sure that our little hiatus with rugs has been partly due to the fact that for a couple of weeks I had really taken Faith’s good behaviour for granted, and was doing very little with her apart from changing rugs and giving her a flick with the brush. She had become quite grumpy with me, and wouldn’t stand still for brushing etc. which I had put down to the sudden cold spell we were having. However, since I have been making the extra effort to go back to doing 15-20 mins or so with her each evening, she has gone back to being amenable and rock steady in the stable, and seems to be happier in herself. So that is definitely a lesson learned on my part. I have to say it is also heartmeltingly lovely to think that she does place some kind of real value on the time we spend together, even if it is just having a chat and a fuss, and practicing foot handling or having a good scratch.

A Gap in My Training

We had a couple of rug related incidents which have shown up a gap in Faith’s rug related training. A couple of weeks ago as I was rugging Faith before turning her out in the morning, Tommy decided that it would be entertaining to run his teeth along the metal grille that divides his stable from Faith’s. This freaked faith out a bit, and she took off round the stable before I was able to do the rug up. Inevitably it slipped back, and for a couple of seconds it ‘chased’ her before falling off on the floor. To her credit she went straight over to it and sniffed it as soon as it landed on the floor, and straight away let me put it back on her.

However, since this incident, she has been a little spooky about having it on, and I confess I have lost my confidence a little with rugging her, mainly because I am heavily pregnant, and feeling a little vulnerable, and defensive of my burgeoning ‘bump’, not to mention the fact that it is also making me a little slow and clumsy. Consequently, I stopped rugging her at night, so that I only had to do one rug change a day. It turns out that she didn’t really need to be rugged at night as nom-nomming on her massive pile of hay has kept her nice and warm. As it has been lovely and sunny for the last week, albeit snowy, I have been letting all the neds out naked to play in the snow, which they have all enjoyed immensely, and once again, big piles of hay have kept them busy and warm.

However, yesterday morning felt a bit dark and cold, and I thought it would be a good idea to rug Faith. However, she had other ideas, and just wouldn’t let me near her with it, so once again she went out in the nuddy, and although she was absolutely fine, I felt rather bad.

So I have started work with the rug from scratch again, and have currently gone back to just rubbing the folded cotton summer sheet over her, and gradually draping it over her shouders and along her back. It is clear that she knows what I am doing, but there is some tension there, so I am keeping up the repetitions and a high rate of reinforcement until it is all utterly boring again.

I must confess, I am disappointed in myself for not being thorough enough the first time, and this time around I am going to make a special effort to get her comfortable with the straps accidentally tapping against her legs, which is another thing that owing to my clumsiness (and my inability to see much below my bustline), had started to happen.

One good thing that has come out of it though, is that I have started to re-think my attitude to rugging, and unless it is wet and windy, I have realised that Faith really is capable of keeping herself nice and warm in a natural and healthy way. I do think that plenty of long fibre food, of good quality, really is the key to keeping a fine coated horse healthy and warm in cold weather.

Snow Problem!

Well the moment I had been dreading arrived today.  I woke up to a blizzard and about half an inch of snow!

Faith just isn't great at putting her feet on strange things, and although she had encountered snow in abundance last year, given some of the traumas we have had about stepping on to wet concrete, I dreaded the prospect of a snowy, slippy yard.

Anyway, I gave the beds brekkie and hay, and Faith's startled reaction to a snowy bucket kind of confirmed my worst fears.

So I spent the next hour sweeping every scrap of snow off the stable side of the yard with my trusty besom broom, and gritted every last inch of it, thus making a snow free path to the yard gate.

I put large piles of hay in the front paddock, and prepared to let the neds out.  Tommy went out first as usual, and started tucking into the hay.  Then I opened Faith's door, and she stepped out gingerly, changed her mind and went back in.  Then she spotted the pile of snow I had banked up on the opposite side of the yard, marched over to it, climbed on top of it, took a big mouthful then proceeded to stroll down the snowy side of the yard and out into the field!  I was gobsmacked and delighted in equal measure!

Tilly followed her out, and they are all three currently naked and frolicking in the snowy sunshine!  Happy days!

All Faith wants for Christmas.......

Is her two front teeth! On Saturday morning, after giving the horses breakfast, then doing the poo picking, I was greeted by an Arab filly who appeared to be wearing lipstick. On closer inspection it turned out to be blood, and immediately I thought she had fallen over in the stable, or bumped herself somehow. I encouraged her to lift her top lip up, and lo and behold her two front teeth had come out, and her gums were bleeding a little.

I was very relieved that not only had she not hurt herself, but she has had one wobbly tooth for what seems like ages now, and I was beginning to wonder if giving her some Highland Toffee might do the trick (that’s what worked for me as a kid!). However, nature seems to have taken it’s course, and she now has two grown up teeth poking through the gums. It’s a shame in a way that horses can’t breathe through their mouths as it would have been the coolest thing ever to teach her how to whistle!

As for training, well frankly we haven’t really been doing any. I am struggling with the fact that it now appears to be pitch dark at about half past four in the afternoon, which makes poo picking in the long foggage, a bit of an ‘against the clock’ event! After doing that, I’m a bit knackered, particularly as I am now really fat. So I have resigned myself to not getting stressed about doing very little with Faith over the next few months. We will just use this time to consolidate the basics, as she is just so chilled out with rugs, grooming etc. So the main event each evening is really just cuddles, and the quest to find new itchy spots to scratch. Apparently, I’m getting quite good at it!

Taken A-back

Taken A-back

Faith had her first visit from the Chiropractor today. Once again she gave me cause to say how desperately proud I am of her.

I explained to my Chiro, that I wanted to just take this treatment slowly, as I wasn’t sure how Faith was going to react, and that if she had to come back three times to complete a treatment, then that is what we would do. My priority was that Faith should find this a positive experience. I explained to her that while Faith could be quite a reactive horse, she is inherently a very, very gentle soul, and I didn’t want her scared. Not that I thought she would be, as my Chiro is an absolutely lovely lady.

Well, having done all that build up, Faith stood, quiet and relaxed like a little poppet. She gave the Chiro a good sniff all over, and had a little sniff and nibble of her wooden box that she stands on, and that done, she was perfectly happy to let her get on with the job.

Faith was brilliant with all the tail work, brilliant when my Chiro stood on the box and worked along her back. She stood like a rock while she had her neck ‘tweaked’, and even did some absolutely brilliant belly lifts!

All the while, I was of course clicking and treating all this saintly behaviour. About fifteen minutes into the treatment I felt the need to explain to my Chiro that I was clicker training Faith, and it wasn’t that I had developed some kind of nervous tic. I nearly fell over when she said; “Oh yes, I thought that was what you were doing, I wasn’t just being polite and not mentioning it!”

So the upshot is that her back is absolutely fine, and her pelvis is nice and level. She does have a few tight spots around her hindquarters and inside her thighs, as well as the little bit on her neck that needed a tweak, other than that she is in rude health. But there is nothing there that I can’t work on and help with a bit of massage, and nothing that isn’t perfectly normal for a young horse hooning about in the field.

So we agreed that she should have an appointment every six months until she is started under saddle, at which point I will start the usual three monthly routine.

But I am endlessly proud of my little Faith, and looking forward to helping her loosen up her tight muscles through massage.

Teething Troubles!

There was something odd about Faith this afternoon. When I finally managed to drag myself out into the blistering cold to do the mucking out, she gave me a big neigh and mooched over to the yard gate, and stood there looking fed up for about half an hour.

Eventually, when I got them in at about 5pm, I could see she wasn’t quite herself. She was very restless when I was grooming her, but still pretty cooperative. But there was something odd about the way she was taking treats from my hand, and bizarrely she seemed to be getting strands of hay stuck in her teeth.

My first thought was mild choke, but her gullet was perfectly relaxed, and she wasn’t having any trouble swallowing. But my mind just kept going back to the way she was taking her treats, it was just odd.

Anyway, I left her to have some hay while I poo picked the field. I was about halfway round, when I had an epiphany, her teeth, she must be losing one of her teeth! Now I wasn’t certain, as I didn’t have a particularly clear idea about when horses start to replace their milk teeth, but I thought the theory was worth investigating.

So when I got back to the yard, Faith had eaten most of her hay, and was standing at the stable door waiting for me to put her stable rug on. So I rugged her up, and when I had finished I held a treat up to her nose so that she had to stretch out her top lip to get it. Sure enough, her left central incisor was tilting backwards into her mouth. I was pretty confident that she hadn’t had a knock or a kick to it, as there was no sign of trauma or swelling, just a slightly tilted tooth.

So instead of her normal HiFi Lite and high fibre cubes for tea, I gave her just high fibre cubes soaked in some warm water to make a mash. She seems to be managing her hay fine, as it is pretty short chopped hay in this bale. When I went back into the house, I checked my vet book, and it did say that at around 2 ½ years, a horse will cast it’s central incisors. Now Faith is only 2 years 4 months, but I always thought she was precocious!

So my little girl is growing up, and I am doing my best to put aside thoughts of her potentially choking on her loose teeth. As mum pointed out to me with a slightly despairing air, horses have been casting their milk teeth for millions of years without choking on them, and Faith will be just fine!

Groping in the dark and navel gazing!

This isn’t going to be as suggestive as the title may imply, so don’t get excited!

I post this blog on a couple of forums, as well as having my own blogspot. I do this because I really value the feedback I get from people who are very experienced with the art of clicker training, as well as those who are either new to it, or haven’t considered it as a training technique before. I really, really appreciate the time and effort people go to when writing comments on my blog, and it is a wonderful opportunity to look at my training through someone else’s eyes.

I am particularly blessed to have the support and advice of a few people who are very, very experienced in this field of training, and who have a unique ability to interpret things from a point of view that is totally horse centred. I admire this skill pretty much above all others in the horse world, and it is one that I am earnestly trying my hardest to develop. I am aware that my zealous attempts to nurture this skill, must often make me sound like a sanctimonious pain in the arse, but it does all come from a genuine intention to be totally honest about my own interactions with my horses, and a real desire to be a better horsewoman.

It is because of this, that no matter what small achievements I make through clicker training with my own horses, I still feel very much that I am right at the beginning of my path, and often groping blindly around in the dark, literally finding my way by ‘feel’ alone. That is another reason why blogging this process has become so important to me, as often I only really ‘learn’ what I have done, by looking at what I have done, if you see what I mean.

This was really brought home to me yesterday, when a wise person on another forum commented on my last little video clip of the step work I was doing with Faith. She noted Faith’s actions in lifting her foreleg a couple of times in the course of the training session, and congratulated me on noticing this displacement behaviour and taking the training back a couple of stages and rebuilding.

Well I couldn’t help but chuckle at this! Yes, I had noticed the behaviour, and I had taken things back a little bit, but that was probably more luck than judgement, and definitely more ‘feel’ than any kind of conscious decision. I certainly had not interpreted the foot lifting as any kind of displacement behaviour. In fact, if truth be known, I had to go off and Google ‘displacement behaviour’, to actually check that it meant what I thought it did! But, yes, that now makes sense. Faith at that moment was experiencing conflict between her desire to stay and be rewarded, and her anxiety at me climbing the steps.

Of course, the answer to this problem, is to take the training back a few steps to an anxiety free stage, and build again from there, so that there need be no conflict when that stage is reached again. So although, if I’m honest, that wasn’t my thought process during the making of that clip, it will be from now on. Another lesson learned through the generosity and observance of others.

Just a quickie!

Just a quick update.  Did a bit more work with the steps tonight, and Faith was brilliant.  I could easily touch her from poll to dock from 'on high' with her standing perrfectly relaxed.  I also did some more work with her tail from both sides, and again, she was great.

Our Chiro appointment is booked for the 27th so we have just over a week to carry on with this until it becomes totally boring!