I just had a Monty Roberts kind of break through. Two weeks ago I had three horses put into the field next to my house. It then rained, poured and made my field into a sponge. I was beside myself... The two horses that I had in the field are in constant training, and I could not ride them.
To pass the time I groomed them, watched their behavior, and worked on trust games. My little pony Raven is a five year old baby, and to challenge her trust I would jump on her back with no bridle, no helmet, no saddle and sit on her back while she ate grass. She acted as if there was nothing wrong with this situation. I was waiting for her to bolt, drop her shoulder and dump me to the ground. Instead, Ellie, her lover came over and would nudge my leg, as if to say, "Get off my girlfriend"
Giselle is my other project horse. Ginger bought her from Camelot Auction house. We had no idea how this horse moved, where she came from, and we didn't test ride her. The day had come when she was at the Stable with us, and I was to ride her. She was nervous, and quick. It took all of my strength to calm my nerves, to keep this horse from taking off and bucking me off. She kicked, she bucked, she was a hot mess to ride. I was scared of her, and was a full hot horse full of nervous scared energy.
Over a month I gradually worked with this horse. She still bucked at the canter enough to throw any beginner rider to the ground. I kept my heel planted and my leg on her and rode her through the bucking. Still, I was nervous to ride this horse. Ginger had an acupuncturist come in, to do her magic. After a few days, I went to ride her once again. Still the same horse. I was terribly disappointed, but held strong to my hope. I had to think back to when I hated to ride little Raven, and then one day she turned a corner and became a joy to ride. I learned from this that with consistent slow work one day it seems to click with these horses. My second ride was better, and then she threw a shoe.
Now I have Giselle in my field. I had all of her shoes pulled and her feet looked at. She is now barefoot. I don't know much about her.... her health background or who owned her before me... She is a Thoroughbred off the track. She has had two wins. She is by no means a loser. She has won $20,000 in winnings. What happened to this horse? The more I found out about her the more I tried to win her over. I wanted her to trust me.
She was head shy- I couldn't touch her head without her thinking that I was going to hurt her in some way. This was a sign to be gentle, no matter what this horse does wrong. I touched her face all over... over and over again, to the point where now, she knows... that I will never ever put a hard hand to her body or face. When I come to her she walks up to me, and places her whole head into my body. She relaxes like a Golden Retriever and lets me hold her head for a massage of the for head, and kisses to the muzzle. Then on cue Raven will be nickering at my rump, asking me to love her too. I have been accepted as the head of the pack. They follow me around with their heads bowed low, and trust me to groom them with out being tied up. They stand still while I brush their legs and face.... they enjoy my company. I don't have to raise my voice, yet, with a stern voice I can tell one to go away, or one to stand better for me and they obey. I have respect from these enormous animals.
Tonight was magic.
I had received some terrible news, and was very stressed out. I was itching to get a release in some way. I knew that riding was the only way to calm my nerves and to get my mind off of the tragic news. I decided that tonight was the night that I was going to ride in the field. I wanted to ride Raven, because she was a safe bet... yet, I have no bridle that fits her yet... My bridle fits Ellie and Giselle. This morning I lunged Giselle to check the footing. It seemed hard enough.... and she was having no problems going around on the uneven grass. I grabbed my saddle, helmet, bridle, and marched out to the field determined to get something done.
I put Ellie on the other side of the fence this morning. She has separation anxiety, and the only way to rid her of this is to separate her. She had finally calmed down. I grabbed Giselle, and without even putting a halter on her I put my saddle on her, she stood like a rock. No kicking. I held her head and asked her for one huge favor.... "Please give me a nice ride... please don't buck me off, I am so stressed out... I really need you to make me happy...." She bowed her head into my chest, and took the bit happily. I took one last breath and threw my leg over the saddle. I was on ..... here we go.... this should be interesting. Raven was loose in the field with us, and followed us at the walk for a couple minutes before she relized that Giselle was a working girl right now... she got bored and wandered over to the run in shed, and stood in there as if it was a stall. Watching.... Meanwhile, Ellie was trotting up and down the fence line calling out to Giselle.... Giselle ignored her- almost as if to say, "Shut up! I'm working!"
I was able to put my leg on her, no kicking.... or ears pinned. She did a nice slow trot, not the usual extreme stride bouncy, uncomfortable urgent trot that I was used to. Am I on the right horse? I was able to do a wonderful sitting trot figure eights, Giselle went right onto the bit, collected up on a loose light rein... she was ready for the deadly canter. Do I dare ask her to do this? I was envisioning her to pinn her ears, give a huge buck and gallop uncontrolably down the field over the fence and dump me next to Ellie. I was expecting it. This is something Giselle would do. I asked her... "ARe you ready to Canter?" and with that she picked up a canter, a slow controlled canter bending effortlessly around the circle I had made up in the field. It was comfortable, I could have ridden her at the buckle of my reins. And then I noticed that her ears were perked forward... was she actually liking this? YES! She was happy, to do this for me. I asked for the walk, and she responded. I walked her down to the bottom of the field. There is a slight hill going up to the end of it. I was going to see if I could control her on this. I asked her to come to a stop at the bottom, and then asked her to "Canter!" and she took off up the hill in a wonderful controlled hand gallop, within seconds we were at the top. She circled, balanced, bending.... and then when I asked her to halt she slowed down and came to a dead stop. She gave out a big sigh.
It went on like this for the next 15 minutes. Walk down to the bottom, canter to the top, circle, stop. It was the best ride I have had in a while. I jumped off her.... I took the saddle off, and the bridle, and with a huge Thank you, I wrapped my arms around her next. her head went limp on my shoulder, she was hugging me back... I pulled away and her eyes were closed. That is one... happy relaxed horse. She opened them slowly. "Thank you! For that my sweet girl... you are amazing!" Then Raven came galloping out of the run in shed and demanded that I too tell her how amazing she was for staying put in her "stall"... The breeze had picked up... I stood there with my two favorite girls... Both demanding my love, and me absorbing every moment with both of them.
I am a horse trainer.... I know that I have a special gift for animal behavior. I took a pony that is as stubborn as a mule and made her into a a wannabe show pony. I took a scared, abused off the track race horse and made her into an event prospect. I did this in under two months.... and all it took was lots of ground time with them. I spent lots of time hanging out with them as if I was one of them. I spend a half hour every night grooming them, massaging them, scratching their itchy spots, and treating them as if I were another horse...I just look different.
I don't think enough people take the time it takes to gain the trust of their horses. They are too busy breaking them.... throwing devices on them to make them do things that are un natural to them. They work them too hard too fast. They do things the same way for too long.
I do it differently. I become one of them, I gain their trust, I become their mothers.... I treat them with respect, and I love and care for them as if they are my own kids. I feed them well, I give them fresh clean water, I make sure they are comfortable. That's all horses want... They want to be free, they want to be horses, they will take your love and turn it to gold. They are quick to forgive, but will remember the day you harm them.
Like I said, it can't be a fluke that I just won over two horses... I must be doing something right.
Beautiful, Liz, just beautiful.
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