Playing with wild horses

Thousand, the second mustang we adopted, practices side passing

Horses are amazing creatures. They can be wonderful friends and also, many times, our greatest teachers. My friend Carol Jennings has recently published a book about her experiences with her three adopted mustangs. A first time horse owner when she adopted her first mustang, Carol says that she has learned to be a student of the horse. In this guest post, she shares a bit about her experiences with her mustangs. You can purchase and download her book about her mustangs, Playing With Wild Horses, from Amazon.

My name is C. S. Jennings (Carol Jennings, but C. S. sounds so much more author-like. Don’t you think?) Anyway, before April 2004 I wrote mysteries. Since 2005 I have written two books about my experiences adopting, caring for and training wild horses with positive reinforcement methods. The clicker and treats. Both books are available for Kindle. The first is titled Shunka Wakan, A Horse For My Spirit (view on Amazon). It is the story of my first year with the first mustang I adopted, Shunka Wakan. The second book is entitled Playing with Wild Horses (view on Amazon). Playing with our wild horses with the clicker and treats is whats it’s about. The second book will be available for free on Friday, October 12. I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy the story. (You can download the book to your computer, even if you don’t own a Kindle.)

Adopting my first horse, a wild mustang

On April 23, 2004 at age 59 years and 10 months, I became a wild horse adopter. Adopting wild horses has changed my and my husband’s lives.

Shunka and I practice ground tying

I had never owned a horse, never even really learned how to ride, and certainly knew very little about training a colt. Yes, the first mustang I adopted was a colt, about 8 or 9 months of age when I got him. My husband and I named him Shunka Wakan (Spirit Horse). Shunka and I suffered through my attempts at natural horsemanship style training. Then I found clicker training. Once I stopped switching back and forth between the two methods, Shunka and I made great progress.

The next January, my husband adopted a mustang, Thousand. After a false start with another type of training, he too became a clicker horse. (What is clicker training?)

The next May, 2006, we adopted a third mustang for our autistic grandson. Our grandson was living with us at that time and we hoped the two of them would hit it off. They did not. Our grandson was afraid of Pony. As a result Pony was uncertain around him. Our grandson went back to live with his mom. Pony stayed with us.

Pony’s puzzles and progress

Pony was supposed to have been trained by inmates at Riverton Prison. We spent months trying to figure out what method they’d used. I researched the prison’s program and several other methods but nothing seemed to ring a bell with Pony. We finally began as we had with the other horses with “Touch”, the clicker, and treats. Pony did well, but as time passed we learned he had other issues.

A year or so later, my daughter put her little girl on him. Her mother led them around the inside of the round pen. Pony loved kids. He seemed happy and relaxed with one on his back but suddenly started bucking. Granddaughter, aged 8, went flying through the air and landed hard. She cried. Her father scooped her up and began comforting her. Pony came to them and began licking her head. He was clearing trying to say he was sorry. My granddaughter wasn’t seriously hurt and was her happy self in a day or two. Right after that the family went home to California.

Pony and I relaxing at the barrels

Pony never recovered. I don’t think he ever forgave himself for bucking a child off. He licked things. He licked things as soon as he felt unsure or frightened. He licked fences, he licked gates, he licked us, he licked his own lips if nothing else was available. I continued working with him mostly on the ground. I even rode him some. He was quiet and willing to carry me but still licked anything he could get his tongue on.

As time passed I began to see how similar he was to my autistic grandson. Pony and my grandson both have short attention spans, difficulty understanding some concepts, are very anxious to please and very quick to become uncertain and worried they have done something wrong. I began to think of Pony as “My little autistic horse.”

Gradually I have come to understand some of what Pony needs to be comfortable. I have been working toward entering him in the Online Horse Agility contests. He loves weaving posts and does it without stopping both on the lead and at liberty. I have also used the clicker and treats to teach him tricks. He is uncertain on the pedestal but his salute is very showy. I try and focus on what he does best and work slowly toward other things. If he volunteers a move or trick he has not wanted to do before, I reward the try. He loves to roll barrels and a 40” ball. The poles and the barrels are where Pony and I go when he needs to relax.

Fun with the focus game

I have recently introduced “The Focus Game” to all three of the boys. The game goes like this. I stand in front of the horse and say “Fo-Cus.” When the horse turns two eyes toward me I click and treat. My object is to be able to bring their full face forward and attention to me no matter where I’m standing, in front of them, behind, or next to them. Pony excels at this game. We play it daily. As a result he’s leaving the fence alone more. When he does lick the fence, I go over and work my body between his mouth and the fence. I don’t push on his head with my hands or ask him to back up, I just wiggle my way between his mouth and the fence. When I do, he backs away and focuses on my face with two eyes. One day I was actually able to use this to get him to walk away from the fence with me and do something else. That was big progress.

I admit that wiggling my body between Pony and the fence is dangerous. He could swing his head over and hurt me badly, he could strike out with his front hooves, or bite me. I can do this only because this little horse has shown me over and over that he doesn’t want to hurt me. He is a wonderful little horse and I love him very much.

I hope you enjoyed Carol’s guest post! Please remember that today you can download her book, Playing With Wild Horses, for free from Amazon.