Faline's Training Summary

Faline is just about ready to go to her new home, and so to document in summary what all she has learned here this summer Jasi graciously took some videos for me this morning.

First I go into the pen to halter her and then lead her out to be tied.  She always is waiting at the gate because she loves to go do things.

Here is video of catching, haltering, and leading.

Here is Faline being groomed and having her hooves picked up.

Here is having her hooves handled farrier-style, with placing them on the hoof stand.

 I have two videos of farrier-style hoof handling.  In the first video Faline participated with the first three feet, then decided she was bored with it.  We went and did some other things, then came back for the last hoof.  This is a good example of Faline's temperament and how she objects to things sometime just because she's bored.  If I'd turned it into an argument then next time I approached placing the LH on the hoof stand we would have another go-around.  Because I didn't make a big deal out of it and just readdressed it later, it was no big deal.

Here is tacking up with the saddle

Here is fly spray

Faline wears a copper mouth eggbutt snaffle.

 

 

Here is Faline lunging in the round pen.  Some baby horse shenanigans, but that's to be expected as a two year old.

Faline stands nicely while I fiddle with ropes and get set up with the long lines for ground driving.

Her actual ground driving is pretty good!

Lastly we work at the mounting block, she has mostly got the idea that she walks up to it and stands with her elbow nearest to me.  I hang over her with my torso and arms, and even put a leg up on her back.  None of this bothers her, and she thinks it's interesting and likes to participate.  Everything, including mounting, is done from both sides.

Near the end of this first video the mounting block tips and I fall off of it, and you can see Faline spook.  Right away she comes back, I set up the block again, and we resume as though nothing happened.  She's super sensible about silly things like the human toppling off of a block, likely because she spent so much time working on the bridge, around big styrofoam blocks, on the mattress, wearing tarps and hula hoops....  me tipping over is just one more odd thing she's encountered here.

 I did get stills of the block tipping over from the video, and when I watched it in slow motion I was kind of proud of myself for how I nailed the landing and stayed balanced and upright even with the block rolling under me!  This is, however, a perfect example of why I always wear my helmet when doing mounting block work.  Sometimes it's not the horse who can get you, but the bucking mounting block! 

I love the expression on Faline's face in the last photo, she's clearly wondering what fresh nonsense I've performed this morning!  She's a good sport, and then went right back to the block to resume mounting training.

 

Faline has come a long way in the couple months she's been here this summer!  She knows how to wear all her tack, has good ground manners for handling including feet for the farrier and standing for fly spray, knows her voice commands on the lunge line (despite not doing much pounding in circles as she's so young), ground drives nicely including halting and backing, and stands for mounting from a block from the near and off sides.  I'm proud of this baby horse, and pleased she has had a chance to be exposed to so many important skills.  Hopefully this thorough ground work will make her first rides much easier in a couple years since she understands mounting and essentially already has gas, brakes, and steering.  I'm eager to see how she continues to progress!

Highboy at Red Mountain

 

 

Highboy and I haven't done too much riding this spring, but we did have some fun in the round pen last week.

 

We were able to do a ride at Red Mountain on the weekend with Carol and Shambhu last week, too.

We came across some hikers who took our photo together at the beginning of the ride.

 I took my traditional helmeted selfie with Carol in the background. 

 

 Shambhu spent some time sipping from the stream near the beginning of the ride.

Then we headed into Ruby Wash.  It was the greenest I've ever seen it after having so much water this spring.  We had a surprise as we headed that direction - there were two young deer taking a nap in the shade as we entered the wash.  As we got closer one hopped up the side into the cover of tree branches, and the other ran across the wash and up the other side.  We continued to approach and the youngster in the tree branches panicked then bolted across the wash to be with its sibling.  As we walked by the momma was in the tree branches and just stayed there as we passed.  The youngsters had taken off across the field, but she seemed to know we meant no harm and were just tourists.  Both horses were really good, having both seen deer before.  Highboy practically lives with antelope at our place, and both are very well traveled trail horses.  So no excitement from them, but it was sure fun to see the deer so close!

I love this tree - it's been growing out of sheer rock for years.  I love its fortitude, that it continues to persevere in conditions that are not only less than ideal but normally would prohibit actual growth.

We stopped at the livestock watering tank just south of the Wyoming border and paused for refreshments.  It was amazing to see how green it was at Red Mountain.

 The horses clearly were having a conversation at the water cooler.

 It was a great ride - I love this open space and how close it is to home.

 

Introducing Free Jumping and the Surcingle

This week Curio and Faline were introduced to the saddle pad and surcingle, as well as starting to work on a lunge line in the round pen rather than just at liberty.  I keep the routine as similar as possible, so that they know exactly what's coming and it always happens in the same order.  That way, when I introduce something new they focus on only the new thing because everything else is old and familiar.

I took Faline out of her paddock and tied her by the barn.  I groomed her with the curry, hard brush, combed out her mane, picked up and cleaned her hooves.  Then I grabbed my extra equipment (saddle pad, surcingle, girth, pocket full of cookies) and we walked to the round pen.  I let her loose to play a little, and set up some poles for her to start experimenting with free jumping.

I love the engagement she has in her hind end as she begins to take off, she really sits and bends all the joints of her hind legs to create springs with which to take off.

I was also impressed with her use of her back and how she lifted her knees well.  Often when I first introduce jumping to horse they sort of climb over the poles, and there was some amount of that, but both Faline and Curio figured out how to actually jump the cross rail fairly quickly.

Here is a series of short videos showing the progression Faline made from slowly thinking about each foot over the poles, to just hopping right over.

 

Here is Curio's first introduction to free jumping video:

 

After each horse had played with the cross rail for a few minutes and expressed some of their "ye-haws" I started introducing the tack once they could focus.

Curio stood quietly while I put on the pad and surcingle, even taking a snooze at the beginning.  I then put him on the lunge line and gave him a chance to walk and trot while wearing it in a controlled manner.  He was great at the walk, when he picked up the trot the girth surprised him a little, and he did some crow-hopping at the funny feeling of having a belt on.  He only went around a circle or two with the hopping, then settled in and trotted nicely each direction.

Faline also was quiet and confident once she had on the tack.  She did a very nice walk and trot each direction on the lunge line.

Curio is Two Years Old!

Curio is back at Bit of Honey as a two year old who is now just a half inch shy of 16h.  He is here for some more work on ground manners, as well as to continue his preparations for becoming a riding horse.  After I got him cleaned up and mane shortened, I put him in the round pen to play for a while.  He seemed happy to have a spot to run around with good footing!

Here is some video of his movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFNYe96GNhQ

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mS2XneYA5w

Here are some stills of his shenanigans that I took from the video.  I like to see this kind of form when they're playing at jumping around, it bodes well for athleticism once they are started over fences.  With bucking photos like this, I'm super eager to see how he looks free jumping!

Curio is available, for more information about him see this link https://bitofhoneytraining.blogspot.com/2020/07/curio-conformation-photos.html

Curio in the Round Pen

I picked up Curio on Friday this week and brought him back to Bit of Honey for the weekend.  He sure enjoyed playing with the dogs in the round pen this morning!

 

Round Pen Fun

Sometimes it's good to get away from the structured training regimen and just take the horses to the round pen to play and free jump.  Today the wind got strong unexpectedly and so I wasn't able to ride my last two horses, Silver and Ferriana.  Instead, I took them to the round pen to do a little free jumping.

I start all my horses over fences at liberty, so that they learn how to use their bodies correctly at the beginning.  Then once I'm riding them over jumps they know what to do when I stay out of their way.  I haven't worked with Silver at liberty in a long time, but he remembered everything like we'd done it yesterday.  He sure looks good all muscled up and flying over fences with the dogs cheering him on.

 

I love this shot of his hind legs with the joints all bent, spring-loaded for air time.

Ferriana also enjoyed a little unstructured jumping time in the round pen.  She sure has hops.  It's always fun to do this and think back to just over a year ago when she was first learning how to jump and how to be a riding horse.  She sure has come a long way in a short period of time!