Whorl's First Proper Lesson

Ok...so I know it's been almost another week since I posted & yes, I've still been slack. There barely seems to be enough hours in these short days to get everybody fed & the boys' mucked out let alone any work done! I'm spending a bit of time just feeding too as this is Mojo's lesson; coming into my space voluntarily & staying there without freaking out. This is ALWAYS easier with food, of course! What other good reason could there possibly be for standing near the scary two legged thing that makes lots of noise?!

-One ear on me & the other on Whorl who is eating in the next yard.-

Sometimes, not even food is a good enough motivator. One thing I have learned with wild horses is that you may not necessarily be able to pick up exactly where you left off yesterday & that's o.k. The horse had to go through a process to get to where you left off yesterday so you may well need to repeat that process to get to the same point today, although not necessarily as thoroughly. Sometimes a quick 'refresher' of what was done yesterday will get you back to that point in minutes but you still couldn't have just gone straight there. The horse has also had some time to digest what it did yesterday; although he may have been quite accepting & coped fine, he may still have decided that it's not one of his 'favourite' things & if you don't suggest doing it again, he's certainly not going to! Don't be trying to work with what you think you 'should' have, you can only work with what you've 'actually' got! Being prepared to start from where the horse is at, will save you endless frustration if you're not exceptionally patient by nature.

So....Mojo is still dealing with being in each other's spaces & "OMG! *gasp!* OTHER PEOPLE!" He managed only a very slight coronary the other day when my darling husband mucked out for me. Having two of us in the yards at the same time was bad enough but "OMG! Do you two HAVE to keep moving too?!?!" It was a BIG deal for Mojo but he coped remarkably well. :-) Some days he's totally relaxed & is happy to come right in close & take hay from my hand at my side & will eat out out of the feed bowl while I'm holding it. Other days, it's all just a bit much & he wants some space. As long as we're moving forward (no matter how slowly it appears), we're getting somewhere! :-)

-Sleeping in the morning sun.-

Two of my naughty lambs got out the other day & went to taunt the wild ponies. They KNOW horses are dangerous (mine like to play "the beautiful game" with sheep) but horses also sometimes have VERY yummy food so they're well worth checking out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxz3AZ80Lc4

Here's Mojo keeping a VERY close eye on the husband...

Oh & Whorl...well yes, we've kept things pretty casual too. I thought I'd better not muck around too long though seeing as these aren't my horses! I'd also REALLY like to get them out in the bigger paddock but I'm reluctant to do that until Whorl has a halter on. I just drenched them again last night too so once they're cleaned out, I'll feel happier about having them in my paddock.

Oh yeah, Whorl...well like I said, I've been pretty casual but have still been careful to cover all of the important stuff like making sure he's happy with me standing on BOTH sides of him, making sure I can move him & turn him easily without him getting worried, making sure I can touch him ALL over with the stick, particularly over & around his head, being able to step in & touch his neck & shoulder on both sides with my hand & at least being able to have the stick cross his wither (if not my hand) so he can see it from both sides. With all of that in place, we were ready start looking at introducing a rope.

This is THE single most crucial step, do NOT stuff it up!

It's all very well getting a rope on a horse but getting a rope on a horse without it panicking &/or getting hurt & being able to get the rope OFF again, can be VERY different things!

Ideally you'll have nice long, soft rope with a large metal ring spliced onto one end. I don't have that, so have to make do with a lunge rein which works exceptionally well BUT it does leave tons of room for error so you'd be better be VERY sure of what you're doing if you're going to follow this option! Your lunge rein MUST reach the full distance of the yard with rein to spare & you MUST NOT allow it to tighten around the horse's neck. I just put the end through the hand loop to make a noose & then weave my 'scratchy stick' into the loop so it stays open, to be placed over the horse's head.

I start by allowing the horse to have a REALLY good look & sniff of the rope...

Some horses will actually quite happily put their heads straight through & you can just drop it on their neck. Make sure the horse is ready before you do though! For others (I've found approx. 50/50) they prefer the rope to come from behind their head & drop forward, down over their nose. You need to make sure you can touch them all along their top line with the rope too (just as you do with the stick)...

Note the rope is actually lying BOTH sides of his wither. If the horse can't cope with seeing the rope both sides, it's not ready to wear it. 

Whorl is happier coming from behind...here we are at that crucial moment...do I? Don't I?

Well yes I did, but I had to put the camera down first, SORRY! ;-) Make sure you don't make a big lunge to get the rope on that last second as you'll scare the bejeezers out of the horse & will undo all of your good work, putting you (in some cases) right back to square one. Keep it all one smooth, fluid motion. If it doesn't go over the horse's head for some reason, don't panic. Take it off & try again quietly.

You also missed him moving around the yard in both directions & me moving his rope back up his neck with my stick.... (Note: we're working in on the near side.)

...like this. Whorl is looking rather apprehensive about that thing coming past so close to his ears...

He's MUCH happier when it's sitting on his neck rather than WAY up in the air above his head. But you REALLY need to make sure you can do that too (at least for a few seconds)...

...so you can take it OFF again without upsetting him. :-)

Please excuse Whorl's expression in some of these photos. As I've explained before, adding the camera into the equation can be a HUGE ask for these guys! In order to take these photos, I had to put everything into my left hand (I would normally have it in my right, working on the nearside like this) & that COMPLETELY changes my balance, how my body is presented to the horse & the horse's perception of that change. And yes, something as seemingly small & insignificant as that, can mean the difference between success & failure with these horses! They are SO fluent in body language that these subtleties are anything but subtle, to them. Sometimes, all you have to do to make something work is change hands! Equally though, this change is all it takes for Whorl to start going, "Hheeyyy.....what's going on here....? I'm not sure I like what you're doing..." when I break out the camera & lose focus.

So yes....about Whorl...he had a pretty eventful 15 minutes today!  Hehehe. I'll have to pick him up a halter later this week. What's Whorl's colour do you think?