Marker training update
Dang, this horse can be interesting in the way he processes information and training. I’ve been busy schooling him in the arena, scheduling around assorted non-horse, non-writing business stuff that requires travel--and “stuff” pretty much sums it all up.
Nonetheless, at age ten, he’s filled out nicely and is holding his weight, even when in a pen and getting two hay bags a day. I still can’t feel his ribs, but I have a feeling that ribs showing on this horse means he has an issue. I’ve also had to tiptoe around an abscess that blew out in his right fore during our wet spell in April. He didn’t show any issues until the day he ran away with me--that was also a day when he did the rare behavior of looking toward the gate and being gate-sour. At the time, I figured he was just being Spring Gelding Who Vaguely Remembers Sex, and excited because one of his winter herd girlfriends was penned next to him. Then he took off with me--in the arena--which ended up with schooling.
But when I took off his right front hoof boot, there it was. Blown abscess in the right fore, not through the sole but through the hoof wall. All right then, that explains a LOT. So I backed off on being too intense with him, but we still spent May in a western Pelham setup to do schooling. I’ve just recently removed the snaffle rein from his bit and gone to regular curb riding.
The aftereffect of that big abscess has impacted what we’ve been doing with regard to lead changes and any lengthy works. He’d been somewhat cranky before then about right lead changes, and his balance hadn’t felt right to me. I’ve gone to doing a lot of lateral work--shoulder in, two-track across the arena--to get him back up to speed. In the last few days, I’ve started easing back into the regular schooling. I’ve not been tiptoeing around it because it hurts him but because of the location, it’s really easy to weaken that section of the hoof and have it break off. Even with hoof boots.
This has also affected our road riding. I’ve started that back up, albeit with a back protector and a dressage-type whip that has a neon green tassel at the end (technically, it’s a pig show whip) to get driver and bicyclist attention in hopes that they’ll slow down and move over. Well, it seems to be more effective than the plain dressage whip. I’d contemplated using a stock flag, then decided I didn’t really want to desensitize Marker to a flag. Besides, that little tassel is proving useful as a fly whisk when they start buzzing around his eyes. It’s much more effective than the homemade version I created for Mocha using her tail hair back in the day!
We’ve been on the road twice in the past week. The first day was somewhat chilly, with a cool northwest wind. Between that and the length of time it’s been since he’s been on the road, he was up and on his toes. We had an Exciting Moment riding past a herd of curious, bored cows that came running up out of a draw next to the gravel road. He couldn’t see what they were clearly, so he startled. However, instead of outright bolting, like he’s done in the past, he did Extreme Lateral Movement, or, basically, sidepassing at speed until I got him stopped and facing the cows. Then I noticed the rancher in the pickup who had stopped and waited until I got him under control, then apologized because he thought he had startled Marker.
No, I explained, it was the cows running up to the fence and...he’s not a cowhorse. Which is true. Even after, when I sent him toward the fence to scatter the cows and remind him that as a horse, he can move the cows, he was still head high and nervous. Not at all like cowhorse-bred Mocha, whose response would have been dropped head, pinned ears, and mean face to let those cows know that she would be herding them if there wasn’t a fence there.
The second day was much warmer and he was relaxed. We encountered a different group of cows, this batch a bunch of old bossies who had absolutely no interest in running up to a horse and rider. All the same, he was high-headed and watching. Our final moment of excitement didn’t happen until we were almost back at the ranch, when he spotted a swollen and smelly deer carcass. Once again, it was Extreme Lateral Movement. Just not as intense as the Scary Cows.
Hey, I’ll take that over spin and bolt any day.
But. How he processes training. There are some things I have put off over the last year, namely any in-hand showmanship practice beyond the need for safe handling around corrals, other horses, and so on. He was rather resistant to the whole idea and it triggered an aggressive pushback that I didn’t want to see. So I left it to pick up later.
Later started happening this week, when showing another boarder a few tips about working on the ground with their horse. The main users of the arena were off at a rodeo this week, so I laid out a box made of ground poles, and a L to back through, and left them. Marker’s struggled with both under saddle and in hand. The box gets used for haunches turns and sidepassing along the length and around the corners, both with forehand turns and haunches turns. The L is first walked through, then backed through. Marker gets anxious and fretful when we work with those. So--I did a little bit the first day under saddle, but I wasn’t happy with it.
The next day, we focused on doing this in-hand. I was a wee bit edgy about this, because his resistance can sometimes get more aggressive than I want. Not this time. Instead, he expressed his anxiety by licking. A LOT of licking of my hand and arm. We also did regular showmanship walk, whoa, walk, whoa, walk, whoa, back, sidepass, and turns. But the L got the greatest focus once we were done with that. Step, whoa. Step, whoa. Doing my best to convey quietness and control, from both of us, so that he isn’t backing up fast once we make that difficult turn.
It worked.
Next day, we went through the box and the L under saddle before riding out on the road. Oh, there were a few hoof dings on the poles, but--he seems to have gotten the idea.
Yay. We’ll keep practicing this summer, but one thing I really like about this horse? Short introductions to new stuff, then leave it for him to think about it. No drilling until it’s close to perfect, like I needed to do with Mocha. Just make sure the early pieces are done quietly, broken down into segments he can learn easily. Next time, same short review.
So far, it’s not taken a lot before he figures it out. Smart horse.
Sometimes, too smart.