Zans Smart Jamacia

Day 10- Troubles

2010-06-09T12:21:00.002-05:00

Well today was our 10th ground training day with Avery! I am proud of this little filly. She isn't one to just follow, she is questioning my ability to lead, whether or not she can trust me and is being little pushy. I love this part! She is starting to really think about what we are doing instead of just “going through the motions”. By this I mean she is thinking beyond “how can I make this lady quit tapping me on the butt right now” and thinking more along the lines of “ok who is going to lead who” “what does this person want from me” and “are you friend or foe?”. The relationship is starting to form. I am no longer just a fly bothering her but a member of the “her herd”. Now, I can establish myself as the leader of our herd.

She has presented me with some great opportunities to prove myself to her. The last 3 sessions have been less than ideal. First, she started thinking about leaving, A LOT! All of a sudden when things we going really well she stopped progressing (or so it seemed). Avery began to focus all of her energy on leaving, getting away from me, and finding a more comfortable place, like over there with the other horses. This presented me with a REAL opportunity to TRAIN her! She was reluctant to move her hips tried to push into me and even kicked at me... and I am excited about it! Because I know that these challenges will be over soon and my horse will be better than EVER!! She will learn that letting me lead is best and she will finally start trust me!

Today she was still pulling on my hand a lot when I sent her out on the long line. But she didn’t challenge my authority as much as she has in the previous two sessions. I will continue to bump her off the halter and soften her head and neck to get her to stop pulling on me. I am excited and VERY ready to move on to obstacles and sacking out. But I will have to wait until she tells me it is time to move forward!

Day 6

2010-06-04T13:37:00.001-05:00

We have 6 full days of training under our belt so far!! And I am VERY excited about her progress!! The tools I am giving this filly will help her understand the things we will teach her in the future and also make her a safer animal to work around. She is learning to respect me, accept me as her leader, pay attention when I am around, and move when and where I ask her.

I like to break the horse down into 4 basic parts. The head and neck, shoulder, ribs and hip.

As of today we can move 3 of these 4 pieces “on command”.
1) She will get off the halter and flex her head and neck laterally and vertically.
2) Move her hips
3) Move her shoulders

We will continue to build on these basics through the next year. These tools will help her learn to side pass, spin, change leads and many other things we will ask her to do under saddle. I will put “buttons” on her next. These buttons will correspond with spur pressure and help her better understand what we are asking for when we start riding.

Some other things she learned this week is to “send” on a lunge line and back up on light halter pressure. I will start taking her out in the pasture on lunge line and sending her through gates, over logs, in ponds and we will use these basic lunging skills to teach her to load in the trailer next week. One of my favorite exercises to do as soon as my horse knows how to back is to back in circles. I start this by asking her to back a few steps then move her hips then back move hips etc… then I will back, move the shoulders, back, hip… I LOVE this exercise because my horse has to really pay attention to every move I make and really read my body. It also gets her loose and supple so she can move nice and smooth. Also next week I will start teaching her to stay next to me and lead without a halter.

The future is looking bright for this little lady!! I promise I will get some video soon!! 

Zans Smart Jamacia- Day 1

2010-05-27T17:24:00.004-05:00

Zans Smart Jamaica “Avery” came to us at about 18 months of age in September 2009. Since she arrived at the ranch we really haven’t made time to work with her. She already had some halter experience but was rather shy. We spent 3 days last fall just messing with her, grooming, allowing us to put the halter on, picking up her feet etc…
Today was her first official day in training! I am excited, to have a new project, until she is sold anyway!
I didn’t shoot any video or take pictures for this session. But I will post as much information as I can, question are always welcome!!

Grooming- “Avery” stood tied to the trailer for about 30 minutes this morning while I brush, combed and sprayed fly repellent on her.

Desensitizing- today’s lesson began with me desensitizing her to the whip and lunge line I would be using. To do this I stood back and throw the end of my line at her feet. The first time it touch her she jumped sideways so I backed off and just threw the rope at the ground next to her. After 3 or 4 times she relaxed and I moved back to her legs. I moved from her front legs to her rear legs, over the hip, across her back and up the neck. I stayed in each area of her body until she relaxed and became comfortable with what I was doing.

Move the hips- One of the first things I like to teach my youngsters is to move their hips. I do this because I feel like it keeps me from getting kicked, dragged or stomped! If I can get my horse to move their hips over every time I ask then they can’t easily kick at me, run away or rear up. If I think my horses is going to do one of these things I simply ask them to move the hips. This is a very simple exercise in which I stand next to the shoulder and look at the hip with “energy”. What is “energy”… Like I want it to move. Of course in the beginning my horse has no idea that I am even looking at her hip but we will teach her. So I am standing at her shoulder, head tipped slightly towards me (in the beginning) and I look with “energy” at her hip. Next, I will kiss once, nothing happens, I will use my whip or the end of lead line to tap on the hip, harder and harder until that hip moves. Repeat 100 times until I can just look at the hip and it moves!! My experience is that horses learn this VERY quickly. I worked with Avery this morning for about 10 minutes and by the end of the lesson she was moving both ways when I asked her to with eyes.

Desensitize again- After a lesson where I had to use my whip to move my horse I want to desensitize her again. I don’t want my horse afraid of my tools. They are just tool, my body is what tells her what to do, not the tool. I need my horse to understand this so I desensitize often!

More to come…