Ground Manners...So Important Yet Often Overlooked

Why do so many people overlook the importance of ground manners in their horses?  

Quite frankly a good number of horse injuries are caused from accidents occurring when you are not mounted.  I am not going to quote actual statistics, but I know just from my own experience.

How many of you have had your feet stepped on, or in some cases, jumped on because your horse got into your space.

We need to remember that horses outweigh us by hundreds and hundreds of pounds and if they want to fight us they are going to win, there is absolutely no doubt about that.

So when we talk about "ground manners", exactly what are we referring to?

Well, does your horse stand tied or does he pull back?  
Can you lift and clean all four of his feet without a huge fight or resorting to pinching tendons or all of the other tricks that people use to get their horses to lift a hoof?  
Can you hose his legs or body?  
Can you put fly spray on him?  
Will he stand still for saddling?  
Does he stay out of your personal space on a leadline?  
Will he stand quietly for the farrier or is it a huge battle every time you get his feet done?  Can you touch him all over without him flinching, kicking or moving away?
Can you touch his ears?  
Does he listen to halter pressure?

If you answer no to any of the above questions then there is room for improvement.  

Even Cleo, yes Cleo the little angel sometimes needs a little reminder here and there about respect.  I do allow my horses to come into my space when I choose it but they also know when it is not allowed.  I teach all of my horses how to be compliant with everything listed above.  Are they all perfect?  No.  They all have their days.  In fact my one horse Sonny had a very strange case of Strangles when he was a yearling and due to that, he has been very head shy and couldn't stand being touched around his ears or above his forehead.  It made bridling a huge challenge but I have persisted with him. All of a sudden one day, he stopped fighting.  He allows me to touch him all over his forehead and poll and lowers his head for bridling now.  

All of my horses are good with their hooves.  I refuse to try and fight somebody who weighs more than a thousand pounds because they don't want to lift their feet.  I teach them the word "foot" because sometimes I want to touch their legs and don't want them to lift them.  I always do their hooves in a certain order.  Always front, back, then front, back.  That way they know exactly what to expect.  

I have found that when you approach something new with confident energy, horses generally don't react as badly as if you are approaching something with trepidation or nervousness.  They can sense your feelings and will react accordingly.  

When teaching them to lift their feet for the first time, I approach it with confidence but also with an eye to safety.  I have taught rescue horses to lift their feet using my methods.  I think people have the most trouble with hooves because they are nervous about it and the horse feeds off of it right away.

With the hinds, it is most natural for the horse to lift their foot forward rather than extended to the rear.  They tend to jackhammer that foot up and down in response to it being extended.  I start them with a soft cotton lead shank gently draped behind the fetlock.  That way I am out of firing range.  I gently pull the foot forward and if they are compliant, I set it down and praise them.  I lift the foot repeatedly and when they seem comfortable doing so, I replace the rope with my hand and will actually rub their leg before attempting to lift it.  With most horses, I am successful in lifting their feet in one session.  I have learned to hang on when they start the jackhammering and generally most horses stop when they realize you have a hold on them.  If you are not confident in doing so, then please for your own personal safety, continue with the rope or consult with someone qualified to help you.

Remember--respect on the ground is the basis for respect under saddle.  

Do You Listen to Your Horse?

Today I will be writing the blog.  I want to speak in a fashion to hopefully engage you to read.

When you are with your horses, do you leave your day behind or do you bring it to the barn with you?

I find that horses are our greatest teachers if only we could cut out all of the noise around us and be in the moment, we can learn so much from them.  

Sometimes they are screaming at us and we just disregard what they are saying.  

Put yourself in their shoes for just a moment.  Imagine being tied up--so having your free will taken away when you are a fight or flight creature.   Your main defense is to run away from danger.  The creature that is coming at you had a fight with his wife before he came out to catch you.  He is still upset and is being rough with you.  You sense his mood and all you want to do is run away as far away as you can possibly get, yet there's this rope tying you to a fence and you are stuck in that fearful place.

Instead of recognizing your fear, they get angry with you for pulling back and trying to escape, making the situation worse.  Then the horse is deemed stupid, or spooky or dangerous.  

I have learned that most horse problems originate from problem people.  When are people going to sit back and learn more about horses and how they tick?!?

It's always great to blame somebody else for your problems.  Far easier than taking responsibility for your own actions.

I tell you, I have made many, many mistakes with my horses but instead of blaming them, I look at my own actions and behavior and 9.9 times out of 10 it is my fault.  Had I been more present and listening to what they were saying,  I could have avoided many a wreck.

I listen now and what I have learned is that they are very clear communicators if you are receptive to them.

Can you imagine being locked in a room filled with zombies who can't see and hear.  You are screaming for help and the zombies just keep lurching around, staring vacantly ahead, not even acknowledging your presence.  

All I'm saying is put yourself in their shoes.  Try to listen to what they are saying, if you figure it out, watch the magic begin.  

Building The Partnership

Sometimes people get so focused on training us they forget that part of being successful with us is building a partnership.

Building that partnership involves far more than just riding. 

Sometimes my lady will just come out into our pen and spend time with us.  I like it when she comes around just to be there.  I always join her and stay near because she has a nice calm energy that I like to be around.

As long as I have good manners she will let me come close and touch her.  If I am gentle and respectful, she allows me to rub my lips on her face.  She and I have been through a lot together.  She helped me to get better after breaking my neck and it took me years to recover so we have a very strong bond that is very unique.

My young friend Story is very smart and she watches how I interact with my lady.  She is so much more trusting now.  She approaches and wants to be a part of things.  My lady is very patient with her and just allows Story to advance and retreat as she feels comfortable. 

This time just allows us to learn how to be comfortable around our humans.  We are very aware of how our people feel.  We can tell your mood from a great distance so it is important for you to remember to leave your day behind when you come out to spend time with us.

We don't understand why you seem upset and all it does it make us want to run away.  When you are there with us and focusing all of your attention on what we are doing it makes all of the difference.  Your calmness and centred behaviour makes us want you to be our leader. 

It takes years to build a true partnership.   

Balanced Hooves and Teeth = Balanced Horse

I am a horse with some physical limitations because of my broken neck.  I do carry my head a little tilted and I cross my left foreleg over my right when I walk.

I developed this way of moving to help me to balance myself because the right side of my neck is missing part of a major bone called the Atlas and it structurally weaker than the other side.

My lady was told that it was extremely important to keep my teeth and my hooves balanced as it would help me to live a pretty normal life.  It does work.  My body is evenly muscled on both sides from mid-neck to the dock of my tail.

I can be ridden and even at a lope.  Sometimes I don't go perfectly straight but if I try very hard I can do it.  I am sure that if I was ridden more often, I would become fitter and stronger which would help me to remain straight.

It is very important for all horses to have a balanced mouth and hooves.  A hoof that is not level can affect us all the way up our leg and into our major muscles and spine.  It can change how we move even when our hooves are out as little as a quarter of an inch.

It can cause us great pain and in some cases it may cause behavior changes like bucking, hollowing our backs,  or not wanting to move under saddle.  We are expected to do very athletic feats, carrying ourselves properly and trying to carry the weight of a rider on our backs.

It is difficult to do so because most people are also crooked and don't sit perfectly balanced in the saddle.

So please help us as much as you can by making sure that the people that you hire to trim our feet and do our dental work are doing the best possible job.

It will pay off in our performance.  We promise.

My Job

I have been working hard the last couple of days.

Usually I live a pretty carefree life, just hanging out in the pen with my herd and sometimes I get ridden, but not very often.  My lady has lots of horses to ride so she doesn't often get on me.  We have a special relationship and she is just happy to have me around.  She mostly brings me in for pampering or massage sessions on my neck.  I think I am a pretty lucky horse although I wish my lady only spent time with me.  I don't like sharing her attention.  

Because I am very kind and laid back, my lady trusts me with the little wee riders.  Little Abby came and rode me a few days ago.  She is only two years old but she loves spending time with me.  She tells her mommy that I am her horse.

It seems that it is my job now to be with the children.  An honor that my lady has bestowed upon me.   She tells me that I have the most important job out of all of her horses.

Although I love kids, I get really bored walking in circles in the arena.  In fact I got a bit annoyed with my lady and nipped at her.  She was not very happy with me and got after me for doing that.  She has to remember that I am still a horse and even though I am mostly calm and gentle, I can sometimes be disrespectful.

Sometimes I need a change of scene and want to go out and explore.  It's so much more fun than always being inside.  I got to go for a ride out on the road a couple of days ago and I was so happy to get out.  My lady's daughter rode me and we got along quite well.  She is a good rider and doesn't pull on my face which is really important because I have problems with my neck that I will have for my whole life.

I heard her say that she might take me to something called a "show" next year.  I wonder what that means? In spite of my neck and my slightly crooked face they tell me I am a very pretty mare.

I am what they consider "green broke" but because I am so calm and quiet, people sometimes forget that.  My lady is slowly working on getting me to work only from leg pressure.  I am going to hopefully become what they call a "liberty horse" someday which means I will be able to be ridden without a bridle.  Because she doesn't ride me often it is taking a long time for us to get to that point but it is fun learning.  She also wants to teach me tricks because I am a smart girl.  At least that is what she says about me.

I hope she doesn't teach me anything too silly.

Oh well, I will humor her because she takes good care of me and I am very patient.

My Annual Vaccination

Well I got my annual vaccination yesterday.  My lady gives me a 6-way shot which protects me against 6 different illnesses that horses in our area can catch.

Administering shots or any type of injection can be very intimidating to people.  The fear of needles is something that can make a grown man faint.

If you feel anxious when you approach us because you are nervous about doing something, we are going to sense it and react very strongly.

If you come up to us and are calm and don't make a big fuss, generally we will also remain calm and many times will hardly even feel the needle penetrate our skin.  The bigger the fuss you make the more anxiety we feel.

Sometimes it is just better to let the vet give us our needles because they know exactly where and how to give them.  Plus if we have a serious reaction to the injection they are there to take whatever action is necessary to make things okay.

If you are an experienced horse person and like to do your own injections, you just need to remember to be careful about where you inject and make sure that when you draw back lightly on the plunger that there is no blood at all because if there is then you have put the needle through a blood vessel.

Sometimes if we are thinner skinned we will bleed a little bit when the needle is pulled out.  If there is any swelling at the injection site, it is wise to call the vet.  Some of us are allergic to certain ingredients that are in the vaccines and will sometimes develop a hot, swollen and sore area around the injection site.

As always, please use common sense when working around us and try to always be safe.  We are big animals and sometimes even though we don't mean to we can hurt you.

August 20, 2013

A side note to the vaccination post.  One of the horses in our herd was exhibiting signs of lethargy, dull eyes, fever, loss of appetite and a reluctance to move starting about 24 hours post vaccination.  The vet advised that he is likely having a reaction to the influenza portion of the vaccine.  We were advised to administer bute to him for the muscle soreness and give him 3 to 5 days to recover.

I have had horses for about 40 years and this is the first time I have seen a reaction of this type so wanted to share.  

The good news is one dose of bute and he is feeling so much better.  

Always in a Rush

Why are humans always in such a rush?

They only have half of their attention on us and they expect us to learn and do things sometimes far more quickly than we are prepared to.

We horses live from moment to moment, our only concern being our survival right here and now.  We are not worried about tomorrow.  We are only concerned with what is in our immediate environment because we may need to run to safety at any given moment.

When we are babies we have a very short attention span, very much like a human child.  Why do people expect us to be able to stand tied for hours on end when we are a year old or two years old and then when we hurt ourselves or start to panic, we are disciplined for it.

Our minds are still developing and sometimes we are in a very fragile state when we are young.  People expect us to be able to carry a rider when we are still growing and expect us to have the physical strength and mental stamina of an adult horse.

My lady believes in taking her time with young horses.  She has expectations of us but depending on our age, she tries not to overload us with too much mentally or physically.  She feels that when we are young,  we learn the most from other horses.  We learn our place in the pecking order and we learn appropriate behavior from the grown ups in the herd.

We watch the adult horses being ridden and if we are allowed to be around them and observe, it is far less frightening for us when we are put into real training.

My friend Story is 3 years old.  She is a pretty but very bossy girl.  She even bosses me around and I am much older than her.

She had many homes before she came to live with us just over a year ago.  My lady is also her lady.  She didn't like to be caught.  In fact, she didn't want anything to do with people or other horses.  People kept on buying and selling her for different reasons and because of that she didn't want to bond with or trust anyone.

My lady spent many hours trying to catch her.  In the rain and mud--didn't matter.  My lady can be pretty stubborn when she wants to be and wasn't going to give up on her.  Story got sick and needed help.  She had a bad tummy ache and had to go to the vet clinic.  After that day she reluctantly let people touch her.  My lady spent many hours with her in the barn, getting to know her.

Some people felt that my lady was a miracle worker with Story but my lady knew better.

She knew that all Story needed was time.  Time to realize that nobody was getting rid of her.  That she belonged somewhere.  She slowly began to trust my lady and looked to her for leadership.  My lady realized just how smart and sensitive she is but has just allowed her to be in with other horses and grow up a bit.  She brings her in now and again and grooms her and does some groundwork and now Story waits at the fence hoping to be brought in.

This little horse now belongs and all because my lady and her friends decided to give her a chance.  She is loved and she has a home and someday soon will have a job to do.

Just like the chance that my lady gave me even though I have physical challenges.  We all have so much to offer but people have to slow down and give us time.  There is no race here and the rewards of you taking time with us is that we trust you and look to you for leadership.  The partnership that we build together will be one based on respect and trust and not fear.