The weather was perfect this weekend for playing with the ponies at the rescue. I spent quite a bit of time on Saturday working with Tex, one of our two year old ponies. He’s friendly and halter-broke, but really hasn’t had a whole lot of training.
Tex was absolutely TERRIFIED of people when we first started working with him at the end of last year. However, he’s turned into quite a goof ball and a total attention hog. He’s quite a quick learner, especially when clicker training and treats are involved. This weekend I introduced him to saddle blankets, a bareback pad, an English saddle and the little two horse trailer.
We started out by playing some with saddle blankets, saddle pads and a bareback pad. He wasn’t sure at first that he wanted ANYTHING to do with a big old saddle pad. However, after letting me rub it on his shoulder and barrel a few times, he decided it wasn’t so bad after all. And a few minutes later he was letting me flap and wave that horse-eating saddle blanket back and forth over his back.
Once he was thoroughly bored with the antics of the saddle blanket, I practiced some wrapping a rope around his belly and tightening it. This helped him get comfortable with what the cinch on the saddle would feel like wrapped around his belly. Since he wasn’t bothered by this, I went ahead and put a bareback pad on him. We walked around a bit and then switched to an English saddle. He stood outside the tack room door, calm and relaxed at liberty, while I got the saddle and then put it on him. What a brave boy!
The only problem throughout this adventure was that I couldn’t convince him to nibble on the grass long enough for me to take some decent pictures! As soon as I would get 10 feet away, he would come trotting after me.
The English saddle I put on him had no pad underneath it and no stirrups on it. I like to start out as simple as possible and then add in more bells and whistles later. Stirrups especially can be pretty scary to a young horse who is not use to having something strapped around his back. By introducing the blankets and bareback pad first and then the saddle gradually, most horses take everything in stride and whole affair is no big deal.
After we were finished with the saddle, we moved on to the small dark scary steel two horse trailer. Tex has been on several rides in the rescue’s large four horse trailer. However, the scary two horse trailer is a totally different experience. It took Trixie three sessions before she was confident enough to get all the way in the scary two horse trailer. Paden and I are still working on his confidence with getting about halfway in. And you know what Tex did?
I led him up to it, planning on working on getting him to put his front feet on and off of the ramp. Instead, he didn’t stop and walked all the way up the ramp and all the way into the trailer. What a brave little pony! He is going to make an awesome riding horse and trail horse once he gets a bit older and gets a bit more training. We walked in and out a couple more times and then quit there on a good note. He had tried quite a few new things for the day and had been brave and confident about all of them. I’ll keep you updated as I continue to work with Tex this fall–If this weekend was any indication, I think we’re going to have a lot of fun!
Ah, ponies! Once they get over their timidity, they are unstoppable.
I’ll have to agree with you on that one!
The donkeys often fit into the same category.
Mary
What a cutie! He seems like he’s going to be a super fun trail horse. Trail rides are always more fun when you’re riding a curious horse.
Yes, I think he’ll be an awesome trail horse someday.
We have a girl and her family who are potentially interested in adopting him. I think he would be the perfect mount for her once he gets a bit more training, so hopefully the adoption will work out.
Mary
Mary, loved Tex’s story getting used to his saddle. I’m helping a friend do the same with a QH colt, Bob. After getting his used to rope around belly, pads and wearing the bareback pad, we brought out an old saddle and got him to follow it and then put in on the ground.
We played the ‘touch it’ game between the saddle on the ground, a mounting block and the bareback pad on a barrel. He mouthed and pawed the saddle a bit. Then we took his halter and rope off, giving everyone a break (and turned the video camera off) and were chatting away. Next thing we knew, Bob went over to the saddle and proceeded to thrash it to death like it was a dead/dying wolf or mountain lion.
I’ve worked with wild animals, and have seen them go into that parallel universe when they are killing something. What Bob was doing was the parallel universe stuff. He was totally intent and totally violent. He was bred and raised by my friend and had never had any sort of ‘saddle experiences’ before, unless he harbored thoughts about the bareback pad he had been wearing and was letting them out too??
Anyway, was just wondering if you used a sacrificial saddle on the ground and let the horse deal with it at liberty. I got this idea from a Monty Roberts story.
Interesting Hertha.
I’ll often put a saddle over the fence and let the horse sniff it quite a bit at first to get use to it.
I haven’t ever had one try to kill the saddle before. We do have many of our young horses who will paw at, mouth at, or attempt to pick up unfamiliar objects, especially the braver ones. So, I would think some of this would be natural behavior related to investigating your environment, as well as (apparently) making sure that whatever you are checking out is really dead!
I caught one of our three year olds last winter with a large branch in his mouth, probably 3-4 inches thick. He was carrying it around like a dog would a stick.
The horses never cease to amaze and surprise me!
Mary
Hey Mary,
Sounds like you made some great strides with Tex. I’ve only been on a horse one time and am rarely around them but they all seem super smart and highly aware of their surroundings. Do you ever use any other bridges with them besides the clicker?? Thanks!
Chris