harness and bit for the first time

[studiowvw]

A good day with Diesel today! I put the harness girth, crupper and breeching on him for the first time, plus the open bridle and bit for the first time. (mullen bit)

He took it remarkably well - had no anxiety about any of it.

I thought some people here would like to hear how it went

He has line driven with surcingle and halter/lines, he is now turned 3, this was the 5th day with him this week.

Unfortunately life and time zipping by meant he has only had a few times that I concentrated on him. Once around Christmas 2012 for about 10 days, about 15 minutes per time. That taught him a basic language and how to line drive in the halter and circle around me on line.

Then last fall I line drove him with Lacey about 6-8 times (1-2 miles at a time). That taught him to line drive and lead along with her, also to pick up his speed and not drag behind, also to trot on line.

He probably has another 10 random times that I actually took him out and groomed, or played on line, or did some walking down the road by himself.

When I started with him this week, he was reactive, opinionated and uncooperative - my first reaction was "where did my good boy go?" Fortunately I was able to bring him along with patience and humour rather than reacting myself by thinking he was "bad" and using correction or matching his reactiveness.

So here are some of the techniques I used to introduce the bit and harness parts to him - to avoid him feeling trapped, ill-used or stressed.

1. bit did not have reins - he just carried it - halter was over bridle so as not to affect the bit

2. before I strapped him into the crupper I put the lead line under his tail a few times. He wasn't clamping his tail or getting scared, so I buckled on the crupper. If he had been clamping his tail (a sign of unconfidence) I would have spent more time desensitizing for that.

3. He's had the lines dangling along his legs many times, so putting the breeching on him didn't mean much. I looped the holdbacks through the tugs so they wouldn't fall down and be stepped on.

4. He line drives ahead of me with either 1 line or 2. You can't expect a lot of finesse when using the halter and lines, but you also won't hurt his mouth by pulling on the bit while he is learning direction and other cues.

5. He was able to turn around to check out the harness - he had some curiosity about it while off and on, so I let him look at it.

6. He soon was dropping his head and snorting out (signs of relaxation) rather than scooting around reactively or standing with his head high (a tendency he has - sign of tension)

7. I didn't combine training parts - when doing the introduction to bit and harness, I didn't actually do line driving or yielding. I did send him out front and let him walk down the trail while on one line.

8. When I wanted to work on yielding, I took him back to the gates, took harness and bit off, and worked in halter and lines. Then I line drove him down the road to the neighbour's, which was what he likes to do, so it was a release and a reward without insisting on anything except going the direction I wanted. On the way home, it would have been more of a fight, so I simply collected up the reins and walked him home. A car came by and it didn't bother him. So the last part, going home, was relaxing too.

Pics - left pic he's investigating the harness, middle pic he is circling on line, right pic he is one-lining down the trail. Last pic he's line driving in halter, surcingle and lines down the road.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

He looks like he is coming along nicely even if his training has seemed hit and miss to you. Sometimes I find working them for a few days then giving them a break allows them to think about and assimilate the new ideas and when you go back to it they take far less time to learn, it isn't all too much at once and much easier on them mentally. I have particularly found that to be true with my one gelding who I didn't actually get hitched until he was 5. He is smart but lacked focus and needed time to mature mentally and absorb what I was teaching in smallish chunks rather than a continuous stretch. Loved the pics.

 

[studiowvw]

Yes, hit & miss describes it.

I think the other chunks worked out well because I carried a concept through to where he was comfortable with it and quit at good times.

A month ago however, I had started a new chunk, then got the puppy and dropped Diesel's training like a stone. But I hadn't carried it on long enough that time to make a real change, so when I started again this past week, the problem of him being reactive and uncooperative showed up.

This is what happened a month ago.

I was doing grooming (no problem), but also tying up for patience (he was not patient), and for a basic leadership, "eat grass when I tell you and quit eating grass when I tell you". He didn't see me as leader, so to him he was going to eat grass when he wanted to. (dominant horse decides when, where and what to eat)

The tying progressed fine, but the grass thing was pretty obstinate. However, so was I, since I had decided this time to solve this very basic acceptance of leadership up front. I allow him to eat grass for a while (10, 20 seconds), then decide it's time to quit, look at his eye and raise my hand, count to 4, then start flipping the lead. At first lightly, but if he ignores it, more assertively until it is something he can't ignore. Sometimes you have to persist on to a good whap to make them jump back. Then you go back to allowing him to eat, deciding when he should quit eating, look at his eye, etc. and become as assertive as it takes.

At first Diesel did not accept this, believe I meant it, or even think past the next mouthful. I kept at it until he accepted that I was the big boss telling him when to eat and when to quit. But my mistake was not carrying this through enough sessions that he accepted it without opposition. I.e. he remembered the "she made me quit eating!" but not through to "I only eat when she lets me". The steps were there, but I hadn't carried through to acceptance.

So when I took him out last week, he was very resistant, did not want to look at me, did not want to do anything on line.

I feel I was able to isolate the problem and fix it (went back to the "don't eat grass when I say" and was consistent enough that he now accepts it as leadership, likes me again and comes running when he sees the halter in my hand.)

I was also able to dial down the backlash from the mistake, used patience and humour rather than deciding he was "bad" and being reactive myself. Oh well! good judgment is what you get after you make mistakes!

PS: I use this as my weathervane as to how my training is going. Is my horse happy to see me and come running when he sees the halter? I must have done ok last time.

Does he run away and not want to be caught? Hey, I must have screwed up last time, what can I do to fix it?

 

[Renolizzie]

So good, Studio. We got the harness on my new horse last week, too. Such an exciting moment.

 

[paintponylvr]

Awww, that is awesome how it worked out.

LOVED the pic of Diesel checking out the harness (or giving himself a "scritch"...?).

 

[studiowvw]

It was half and half.

But since he didn't have side reins, or me holding him short, he had the freedom to check it out.

Blackflies have wreaked havoc on my consistency record. But I've played 3 times with him since. Had whole harness on him with blinders and breast collar, he found this "different" so I will add those in again next time maybe.

Got a new cart for Lacey, we have driven in it twice. There's more room between the shafts, but the cart is bigger and heavier. Shafts too long too. It has C-springs and 24 inch wooden wheels and I looooove the ride!

Also don't have to fight with her to slow down - the extra weight means she is happier now and then just to stop and rest.

Pic below - don't know the maker as I bought it at auction.

 

[Renolizzie]

We call those buffalo gnats. I am allergic to them and have my eye or somewhere on my face swell up at least once every spring.

I haven't had my little Wiseguy out enough but have been trying so hard to get everything done around here. We put in a small pond and made a water feature and there's always the yard to work on. We also put up a horse shelter, with two stalls. That meant moving rail panels and setting up a couple of feeders I bought for inside the stalls.

We have had to work on some fencing. I put up a rail fence along the driveway so it would be safer for the horses. We have grapevines on wires and I've been afraid if someone spooks or panics they wouldn't see the wires and would try to run through them.

Today we plant the veggie garden.