10-3-2011: My new horse -- Laredo!

Here is my official entry post for my new horse—Laredo!

I have a very good friend who suddenly found she was moving out of state and could not take her horse with her, so she offered him to me. Here are the critical facts:

• 5 years old
• Black. Or bay. Or black-bay. Depending on the season. No markings.
• 25% Friesian/25% Arabian/50% Thoroughbred
• I named him “Laredo,” which means “God ordains” in Latin
• ~16 hh
• No training other than a little bit of lunging

This one makes him look more Friesian-like.

I saw him for the first time about a month ago just to, you know, confirm that he was a horse, had all of his legs, that sort of thing. With that critical examination out of the way, I felt comfortable bringing him home this past Saturday.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t too confident about trailers and because we have a straight-load horse trailer, instead of being a nice, open, friendly, inviting Killer Cave (like a stock trailer), it was a dark, narrow, ugly, horrible Killer Cave. This, of course, made him just thrilled to go in.

Five hours later, having used every technique in the book and a few off of my own head, we finally got him in. Whew.

He’s now getting settled in with the herd and has become lifelong friends with the young Lusitano in his field who is likely to teach him all kinds of great tricks, like how one can stand in one’s water trough and tip it over for entertainment.

I took him out yesterday and trimmed his feet, and he tried very hard to behave, which was impressive. He is incredibly light and sensitive and already is responding with incredibly available instinct and life to the release—meaning, he has no qualms leaping off at a gallop or using every ounce of his deer-like energy and sensitivity at a moment’s notice. It is so much fun. (Until it isn’t. Which is why I’m wearing gloves when I work with him at the moment.)

Stay tuned for more updates!

10-1-2011: Change the subject so you can catch your horse

Maia has been good—I only see her 1-2 times a week, but that is still fun. Unfortunately she’s been going through an odd phase in the pasture lately where she does not want to be caught and is thrilled to make a great big game out of staying away from me. Of course, that’s not a game I’m interested in playing, but I can usually snap her out of it by completely showing I am not going to catch her.

Meaning, if she gets a bee up her bonnet and starts buzzing off, I’ll do a quick hotspot release behind her and see if I can send her off at the canter or at least a good trot. Almost every time, she goes tearing off for about 30 feet, turns around, and comes right up to me, like, “What? Hey? Weren’t you trying to catch me and wasn’t I running??”

What does a pie-eating contest have to do with today's lesson? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's a totally unrelated and ridiculous change of subject. Intrigued? So is your horse when you do that in training.

It seems to really shock her into reconnecting again when I refuse to chase her. ;) It also helps if I completely do something she doesn’t expect. Like yesterday, I sent her off at a fast trot, she turned right around to come back, and she was expecting me to go up to her head but I instead walked straight up to her tail without any greeting and started pulling burrs out of it.


Lesson Learned: If your horse has something in mind you're not fond of, change the subject to something so radically different (or completely opposite) that they are shocked into reconnecting with you.