Yet another great session! In addition to what we've been working on the past couple days, we also introduced learning to stand tied and some liberty exercises.
Catching was by far the easiest today, and it should only continue to get easier as we practiced quite a few times throughout today's session. Walked up, pet both sides of Rain's neck, gave her a treat, and quietly clipped on the lead rope and lead her into the round pen. We did a few laps around the round pen in each direction, stopping once and a while to back, before trying tying for the first time. We had two trouble shooting scenarios in our various sessions of standing tied, the first being during our second try, (the first went perfect!) when I tried to cross in front of her by going under the lead rope, and the second during our last try, when I just went a little too far back onto her hips while brushing.
Our first time Rain was truly more surprised than anything else, ran backwards and when she realized she couldn't go anywhere actually managed to flip herself over, jumping back up to her feet again and pulling for a few seconds before I walked back in--I wanted to give her her space during this little fit, so she wouldn't associate me with it--and she almost immediately walked in towards me, ears perked, obviously shaken, but coming to me for comfort. Needless to say I gave her a treat, and also un clipped the lead rope so she could have a few minutes off without stepping on it before trying again.
While the lead rope detached is when we started doing our liberty work, since I noticed that even after I dropped the rope the ground Rain was still following me. We did walk, whoah, back, and many turns and she followed just as she would if we were leading. After walking off for a few minutes to restock my hoodie pocket of treats, I once again walked right up, clipped on the lead rope, adjusted the halter, and we kept working!
Our second trouble-shooting came with our last standing tied session for today, when I was "grooming" with my hand just to get her used to being petting everywhere. Similar to the first time, when Rainn began to get uncomfortable, she decided to run backwards. The difference was, this time when she ran out of rope she simply stopped: neck outstretched, legs leaning back, seemingly stuck in that position for a good 30 seconds until once again she straightened herself up, and walked right up to me. Once again she got a treat, and since coming back to neutral after pulling away was exactly what I wanted, that's where we stopped the tying for today.
We continued with some more liberty and leading, and ended with three consecutive rounds of unattaching and reattaching the lead rope once we got back into the paddock so Rain was pretty much completely used to me reaching under her chin or holding her halter from basically any angle.
The past two days have been crazy progressive! Yesterday started off a little rough since I had to adjust Rain's halter a bit, to make it tighter so the noseband would fall where it was supposed to. Getting that done took a little persuasion on my part, but once I got started she once again stood perfectly still and waited for me to move on.
We worked on some leading exercises yesterday which we continued into today, yesterday working solely in the paddock and doing some more round pen work today. Also working with voice commands, we worked on "walk" "whoah" and "back", of course each time she followed one correctly she would get a treat. By the end of yesterday she was responding great to "walk" and "whaoh", and actively backing when I asked her to. Today was even better! The way I'm introducing backing up to her is by backing up myself towards her, and if she doesn't move to give her a little poke with my elbow, which I've only needed to do maybe twice yesterday and not once today. She'll tuck her head in perfectly naturally and step back with the same energy that I do, which is so great to see! She's also starting to get closer with her stops, when I stop walking as say "whoa" she'll keep walking for a few steps til she's right up behind me, which while it's not an immediate response to the command, it's also showing that she's choosing to be closer to me rather than farther, which is something I will always embrace!
Our leading is going fantastically well, she's already going more quietly and softly than a lot of the "trained" horses I've worked with...and I think that's a great sign that she's going to respond quietly to most of the things I introduce to her. We've been doing just very simple cues: I walk out in front of her, with my back to her, and ask her to walk. If she does, we'll continue walking, if not, one or two light tugs on the rope and she'll usually start moving when I release. We only had one or two instances yesterday where I tugged and she decided to run backwards, breaking my grip on the rope. The good thing is she's getting progressively easier to catch, so when she does break loose all I have to is call her back and she'll come.
We've also started expanding the area that I can pet her, in preparation for hopefully introducing a grooming session in the next couple days. Today I even "tied" her to one of the rails of the round pen--meaning looped the rope around the rail so that I could use both hands, and if she resisted the rope would would release. It took a few tries for her to understand exactly what was going on, but she figured it out! I can pet pretty much anywhere now from her head to the middle of her back--except her legs--and things will only continue to get better. We also did some work with leading in and out of the round pen, and in and out of the stall, (going in the stall has been offering some challenges, but we've got them pretty much worked through) preparing for starting to lead outside and inclosed area. She follows completely quietly almost everywhere I go.
I can't wait to see what we're able to do tomoro. I'm bummed that we only have a few more days til I go home for the holidays, but based on how things went Friday we should be able to pick up pretty much where we leave off on Wednesday once I get back.
 Once again, the first day back since my last post....my finals kept me from doing anything other than school work over the past two weeks, so I was really pretty nervous about going today. It's now winter break, and aside from the week and a half I'll be home for the holidays, I've got nothing to do but work with Rain, so we'll be able to make a ton of progress between now and next semester!
Anyhow- I was nervous about going today because I was afraid she may have forgotten everything over our little "break"...being wild, I never know what to expect from her as far retaining information. But she amazed me once again, I walked into her paddock and called her and she came right up, let me pet her, and calmly walked into her stall for rope work! We picked up right where we left off.
We started with just a recap of what we were doing before finals: petting, holding her head, rubbing the rope and halter all over her head and neck--by far her least favorite part of the day. After doing that for an hour or so I decided to try to halter her. My new rope halter made this a little more difficult, 1) because it's stiff and not broken in and 2) because I had to turn it inside out, as she's much more comfortable with me on her right side than her left.
I started by getting the rope we were using as close up to behind her ears as she would let me, and then tying the end of the rope that fell on her right side to end of the halter's pole strap. That way by pulling on the rope I could relatively easily get the poll strap over her head to secure the halter. We practiced just that a few times, and then moved on. I pulled the other end of the rope thru the loop to which you secure the poll strap so that as I pulled it over her head the strap and the loop would get closer together. Now all that was left to do was get her nose through the noseband.
I'll say easier said than done, because it did take a few tries (and lots of treats) but it also went a lot smoother than I was expecting...after about try four, Rain stood patiently once she realized the purple and green rope was not going to eat her as I fumbled with the poll string trying to tie it backwards. I finally did, and then even went in to tighten it up some and she allowed me to perfectly fine.
Since she's pretty comfortable with me petting her neck now I was able to attach a lead rope with no trouble at all, and then I opened her stall door and released her back out into her paddock. She took off straight through her paddock and into the roundpen, dragging the lead rope behind her and sometimes stepping on it. I was really pleasantly surprised when she did step on it, she responded extremely well to the pressure, either stopping dead in her tracks or taking off for a few steps, exciting the newbies who were all gathered around the fence line.
I went and just sat in the sun for a few minutes as she trotted around getting used dragging something behind her, occasionally stopping to take a bite from the fresh blanket of snow. After fifteen minutes or so I called her over, and while it took a little while to grab ahold of the lead rope, I did, and we started working on some leading exercises.
We started off with me facing her, using a treat as a bit of a bribe to get her to respond to the pressure and move foreword. After a few laps in each direction (to change I just turned around, and she followed) I turned my back to her and coaxed her foreword, stopping with a "whoah!" every once and a while to help get her used to the voice commands. Every time she responded properly, I of course gave her a treat. We also introduced "back" today, which took a little more experimenting on my part to figure out, but we finally got a good system figured out: she'll calmly take a few steps back if I wiggle the lead rope and lean in to her a bit. That was such great progress!
I brought her back into her paddock, took the lead rope off, and that's where we ended for today. I can't even begin to say how proud I am of her! This was such a huge step we made today...I can't wait for tomoro!
Played catch-up today, as it was my first visit since my last entry....we have my finals to thank for our lack of progress, the good news is aside from the 10 days I'll be home for the holidays after next week I'll have nothing to do except work with Rain(and help a friend break some colts)! That's gonna be awesome. I went to the barn way overdressed today and Rain looked at me like I was mental, because of all of my layers. By a half hour in almost all them had been shed and I was back to just a hoodie like she's used to.
Considering my inactivity we had a pretty progressive day, --we didn't make a lot of progress, but Rain proved to me that a couple days off doesn't phase her a bit, which is great to know! We went in the stall and continued our rope work, I touched her ears and her neck and under her chin, and then tried to progress a little too quickly: I talked about in my last visit how I was holding Rain's face to get her used to some constriction. She was doing so well with that today I decided to slither my hand up and around her nose, instead of just on her cheek...and she didn't like that. Her head flew up, she flew back, and I didn't know you could pick up a canter in a 10x10 stall, but she managed to do so for at least a couple strides! I had my head so close to hers she gave me a good smack in the process, which I'm not gonna lie knocked the wind out of me a little bit. She stopped and looked at me, took a couple steps foreword and we shared a "lets not do that again!" moment, and then continued working. I spent the rest of today's work session just getting her back to where she was at the beginning, and we quit when I could wrap my hand under her chin again and rest it on her cheek. We'll progress to the nose throughout the rest of the week, but I learned my lesson as far pushing progress. I truly forget sometimes that she is a completely wild horse, with how long we've been working together...
After we finished working I let Rain out in the roundpen while I did some chores around her stall and paddock. There was a fresh layer of snow on the ground which she very much enjoyed taking huge bites out of as she trotted around. She got to meet a couple of the yearlings--who I affectionately call "the newbies" who came over to see who the strange horse in the roundpen was. They ran up and down the fence line together, and it was so great to see Rain be able to get some equine contact....I know it's not the same as if she was actually in their pasture, but at least it's something.
Today started off a little shaky...it was very windy and we had to skip yesterday because of homework. Once we got going though we made excellent progress! We worked in the stall again today, continuing what we were working on on Wednesday.
I just focused on getting her more comfortable with me petting her today--everywhere. I stuck to the front half of her body, mostly because the rope was wrapped around her neck (though I hardly ever had to use it...there was almost always slack in the loop) and that's where I had control, just in case.
Touched everywhere on her face, on her neck, played with her mane, touched her ears and wrapped my arm under her chin--prep work for eventual haltering. One thing I found very interesting was that on her left side, I could pet pretty much anywhere on her neck except over her brand...she would always try and walk away when she'd stand perfectly still for everywhere else.
Rain seemed to actually enjoy me rubbing her neck under her mane. I could understand that, it's been quite a while since her last "grooming"...her ears and chin, however, took a little persuading on my part. She allowed my hand to creep up her neck and around the base of both her ears, though she at first raised her head, made "wild eyes", and tried to take a step back. After a few seconds, however she calmed down, licking and chewing as a sign of being relaxed. As soon as I saw her start to relax each time, I'd step back and give her a treat, and take a break for 30 seconds or so.
Had a similar set up with holding her head, the first couple tries she actually managed to get away from me, but I kept trying until just like with her ears, she eventually relaxed. In the mean time I'd stand at her side, one hand holding the rope--which was still usually slacking--and my other under her head, talking to her quietly reassuring her that I was not anything who needed to be feared. She took a little longer to relax with this, but she eventually did and I decided that would be a good place to stop for today. I opened the stall door and released her back into her paddock, and walked up for one final test: touching her ears while she loose in the paddock. And she let me. I gave her a handful of treats and that's where we quit.
Part of me wonders if we'd already be out in the pasture if I had thought of this sooner, but at the same time I think taking things as slow as we have and taking some the failed steps we took helped to build and strengthen our relationships...even though I'm not following any professional trainers for this, I at least know that rushing through training a mustang is the worst thing you can do. You have take time to build trust. It's just an interesting thing to think about
Things are progressing so well! My gut told me yesterday was the beginning of a new phase, and I was right! We worked in the stall today for about half our session, and played with a section of lariat rope I found in her new paddock...maybe 20 feet or so, all soft and worn out...perfect for what I needed it for!
I introduced it to her, then tossed it over her shoulder so that grab the end and make a loop around her neck. We used that loop for our entire session, learning to give to pressure and to help me make an awesome new step: petting her neck. Rain wasn't too happy about it at first, but she learned after maybe two steps that when she backs up and resists, she gets pressure on her neck, so she allowed me to pet her neck. Stiff at first, but after three or so attempts she was actually leaning in, pressing her head into my arm (felt to me like she wanted to rub, but still wasn't sure if she could).
I also worked with the halter a little more today. Rain is definitely more comfortable with me on her right side than left, which means I'll have to turn any halter inside out for at least the first haltering. She wasn't thrilled about it but allowed me to loop the rope we were working with around her nose, though she wasn't ready to take that step with the halter. I tried to simply make a halter out of the rope, but when I tried to move her neck loop up to behind her jaw I encountered a bit of a set-back: she does not like things behind her ears. That's alright...it'll come with time, and I completely understand where that may be weird for her.
So instead I continued to get her used to me petting her pretty much everywhere, and then opened the door to let her out back into her paddock. The difference was, I was still holding the rope. After about two laps of trotting around her paddock--my jogging right along side her-- Rain realized that I wasn't gonna let go and turned in and walked towards me. She's getting a little more pushy with the treats, but it's still not pushy...just more comfortable. She'l stick out her head and nudge my arm when she knows she earned a cookie. And as long as it's not aggressive, I have no problem with it...just that she's looking to me for anything is great to me!
We did some leading exercises around the paddock and then quit for today. I didn't want to over do anything since things were going so well, the release will make her even more willing to work tomoro.
Another short visit today, --on account of my splitting headache-- but we got a surprising lot accomplished. Had to move Rain one stall over, because the one I put her in yesterday didn't have water heater access...but she meandered right over, and now her paddock has immediate access to the round-pen, which we played with a little bit today. It's a pretty good size, and had to feel good for Rain to have some extra space to run around in this afternoon. I'm gonna try and give her at least an hour every day just to hang out in there...it'll help with both her perception of me as well her work ethic, being able to get some more exercise.
We just played in the round-pen today...I blasted some rolling stones from the barn radio, and armed myself with a rope halter (just in case) and lots of treats. Rain had no problem turning and coming to me in the bigger space, usually with just a whistle or snap of my fingers!
I introduced the rope halter for the first time today, and she was surprisingly receptive! She even stuck her nose thru the crown piece, for a second or two, curious as to what it was. I opened it up, and introduced it to her at every angle, and she was tense, but stuck around when I rubbed it on her...We're gonna work in the stall again tomoro, to see what kind of progress we can make, and then of course I'll turn her out afterwords.
I'm so excited...I think the few days off did us both wonders, and we're ready to make major progress!
First day back from going home for thanksgiving, and Rain did a great job! I didn't push her or try to do anything new, just making sure she remembered everything we did before I left.
Also moved her into a new stall, (it's on the other side of the barn so we can work in the sun) and she was so cute how calmly she walked over! I opened the two stall doors--and of course closed the hallway doors--and she just walked through, head down, out of one and into the other, and immediately turned around and looked at me as if saying "okay, now where's my treat?" She really is very much gentled....she's just a little leery still about people coming close.
We did hit a major breakthrough in that regard today, however, when I brought my friend Ruth in to try and say hi. I armed her with a handful of treats, and Rain walked right up to her and let her pet her! We were both shocked! I was so proud of Rain, and she was so cute looking back over at me every couple seconds almost for my permission.
I think with her new location our sessions will start to get more progressive, with her paddock being in the sun now we'll be able to work later and having the round-pen now attached will be a great ally for ouground work!
Short but quality visit today, Rain is seeming a lot warmer since she managed to get her halter off...almost like now because I have to do everything the hard way she's more willing to work with me...which works for me, I'll take any effort I can get!
It really amazes me though how much she respects me (and I believe loves me) for how wild she still is...there's still no way I could get a halter on her, or even pet her neck outside the stall, but when working--er playing, if we're going by today--out in the paddock she would rather be near me than on the other side of the paddock, will deliberately follow me if I'm walking around the perimeter, and pay 100% attention whenever I'm in her eye sight. And I love that. She is going to be such a fantastic little horse, and I don't think I'm gonna get a single buck out of her...she doesn't seem to have a mean or aggressive bone in her body.
There were recently brought to the barn about six yearlings, they were rescue projects that the "lesson girls" are going to try and train with the help of the barn manager. I've gone out in their pasture a couple times, and while they're at about the same level of trusting people--maybe even a little less--than Rain is, they'll come at you, ears back, try to kick, run you down, do whatever they can to try to assert dominance...one today even knocked down two panels of steel fence, releasing the group into a bigger pasture....I've full out fallen on top of Rain a couple times, and after scooting herself out from under me she flipped around at a reasonable distance and looked at me, like "are you okay? what happened?!" She's never once offered to bite, kick, charge, anything. She'll even respect a lead rope as a proper form of fencing that is not meant to be messed with. I've had so many people walk past and say "be careful!" once they learn she's a wild horse....truly, I'm a much bigger threat to myself or her than she is to me, with how truly clumsy and scatterbrained I can be.
Anyhow...just a little observation that I've been making, and one that makes me pretty happy...if the babies who have been around people their whole lives can be more violent and destructive than an 8 year old wild mare who's been with people for a couple months, I think I made a good choice on project and partner!
I'm leaving for Thanksgiving tomoro morning, and I won't be back til sunday....this will by far by the longest break we've had, so I'm hoping so much that she'll be the same horse she's becoming when I get back...
this week we actually only got two visits in, thanks to outside complications making my life difficult...I'm hoping we'll be able to make up for it this weekend, especially since I'll be leaving for thanksgiving holiday wednesday morning and won't be back til saturday.
seems on top of everything else that was going wrong this week, God felt the need to throw Rain into the mix as well. I got to the barn on wednesday and noticed rain had snapped the crown-piece on her halter right in half, leaving it in the middle of her paddock, and her standing against the fence, naked, with a "so, what now, smart guy?!" look in her eye.
I just had to laugh. There was nothing else to do, we've been spending the past two-three weeks just focusing on attaching the lead rope, and now there's nothing to attach it to! She does look so much better without it though....we'll continue our stall work that we started a couple days ago and see where that takes us, she seems to be responding really well to it and I think that's our best bet for getting a halter on in the reasonable future. I'll just have to rewrite my game plan a little bit.
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