Come to Jesus Meeting

Yesterday I wrote about how your body language effects your relationship with your horse, or any horse for that matter.  In that blog post, I mentioned a "Come to Jesus Meeting" between my paint mare Lady and myself.  I had a friend read the blog before I posted it, because I felt that I was missing something, she assured me that I hadn't, but said that I might want to write a blog explaining what a "Come to Jesus Meeting" was.  So, here I am, going to try to explain it, as best I can.

On a few occasions, Lady will decide that she is in charge of the pasture, whether I am there or not.  She usually tells me this with the usual body language they use when a lower ranking herd member tries to over-step their position.  Glaring, pinning her ears, the usual, which I reciprocate as best I can, and depending on how much conviction she has, maybe a charge when I don't back down when "told" to.  This, is usually handled easily with stepping in her direction, clapping and saying, "NO" in a stern voice.  But on the rare instance where she really wants to push the issue, it comes down to having a "Come to Jesus Meeting" either in the round pen or on a lead rope.  There is nothing really different than regular ground work, then the fact that I push her a little harder because she is pushing back.  As long as she is showing any signs of defiance, raised head, swishing tail, ears on anything but me, charging when coming in or changing directions, anything I continue to push her to move her feet quickly and frequently change directions both toward and away from me in the round pen and just toward me on a lead rope.  As soon as she starts to show any signs of submission, I back off and allow her to rethink her position in our herd.  If she can come to me right, and like she is supposed to, the meeting is over.  However, if she shows any signs of being defiant, the process continues with increasing pressure to move quickly and even more turns with her hustling through them as well.  Again, as soon as she shows any signs of submission, I back off and allow her to think about it.  If she wants to settle down into her role, as subserviant to me, we are done.  But as long as she is being defiant the process continues.

This whole process usually takes anywhere from five to thirty minutes, and that time is tied directly to her conviction for being the lead mare.  Most times it's a five minute meeting, but it is what it is.  With any horse, a "Come to Jesus Meeting" can be beneficial under the right circumstances, but only if the person conducting them is absolutely confident that they can win the argument, so to speak.  If you are new to horses, and your horse has gotten where it is really pushy and disrespectful towards you, you will require the help of a more knowledgeable and confident person to do this process, as you watch.  Then, once the horse is a little more compliant, you might attempt it with the other person assisting you, to make sure you are doing it correctly.  Once you know, when to apply and release pressure, and to what extent, you might try it with the other person watching, much like you did the first time.  After you are absolutely sure that you have the method down, you can do it on your own.

Now, the draw back of the "Come to Jesus Meeting".  If you lose the argument, even once, you will cement in the horse's mind that it is the leader, and that you are to follow his/her lead.  This is why you have to be absolutely certain that you are going to win the "argument" before you ever start it, if you are not, get help, period.  This is not something that you can start, then in the middle of it decide that you are in over your head and quit, because, if you do, the horse wins and it will be harder next time.  It really becomes a vicious cycle.

Now, if you have read and paid attention to what I have written, you noticed that I never said anything about actually touching the horse to apply pressure.  That is because for me, I do not find it necessary, I can successfully complete this with just my body language, but I still keep a whip or stick in my hand just to in case I need it.  If I need it, it is usually as an extension of my arm to extend my reach, but I'm not against using it on the horse, in the proper manner of course.  I am not telling anyone to abuse or beat them, but you may have to get a little harsher to get this job done.  So, with that being said, here's hoping that you never have to utilize the "Come to Jesus Meeting", but if you do, that everything goes as it should.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless you and yours.

Until next time,
Lisa

How Your Body Language Effects Your Relationship with Horses.

If you've ever watched a herd of horses out in the pasture; or had the pleasure of watching Mustangs in the wild; you probably noticed that the majority of their communication is done via body language.  The majority of your communication with your horse takes place without a word ever passing your lips.  Just like they read the body language of their herd mates, they also read your body language just as well.  When you stop to think about it, it makes perfect sense.  Ever notice that when you spend time at the barn, around your horse, when you are happy, sad, angry, whatever your horse behaves differently depending on  your mood? Ever wonder why?  It's because your horse is reading you, much like you are reading this blot. (Thanks, by the way.)

To horses, reading body language is easy, and just part of everyday life.  People however have gotten out of the habit of paying attention to the subtle details that make up body language.  For the most part, when we communicate with each other, it is verbal, and because we are taught to look as whomever is speaking, our focus is usually on their face.  We have spent so much time looking people in the eyes when we talk to them that we can easily read the emotions on their face, but what about the rest of their body?  Can you easily read how someone feels about themselves by simply watching them?  If you can't, you can bet that your horse can.  Ever notice that your horse is a really good judge of character?

Horses notice and read (quite well, I might add) the very subtle ques of body language, including the body language of humans.  Before, you ever get close to them, they know if you are confident or scared, happy or sad, calm or anxious, and anything else you may be at the time.  As your mood and body language changes, so does your horse.  Where the relationship between a horse and a human is concerned, we are operating at a huge learning curve compared to them.  They live their lives day-to-day reading body language; and we live ours day-to-day listening to tone of voice and watching facial expressions.  Because of this, we have to learn to read their body language, while they have us pegged from a mile away.

So, what do you do?  Well, being as every person is truly unique in how they handle different situations, this is a nearly impossible question to answer in a way that will cover everyone.  I consider myself a very stable person (pun intended), that's not saying that I don't have the stresses, worries, or anything else that any other person has.  I just know how to deal with them in a way that suits me.  For me, the way that my place is set-up, I have to go through a gate to even get to the barn, and that is the way that I like it.  Before I walk through the gate, I stand up straight, square my shoulders, and hold my head high, then walk into the pasture like I own the joint.  I have two horses, both mares, the paint mare, Lady, is the Alpha mare, and the chestnut mare, Fancy follows her lead.  Lady knows that when I'm not there she is in charge, and takes that role very seriously.  But she also knows that the second that I step into the pasture, the role of Alpha mare switches from her to me; and for the most part she follows it willingly.  Every once in a while she'll decide that she wants to be Alpha regardless of if I am there or not.  That action from her demands a "Come to Jesus" meeting, and at the end of it, she's good with following me again.  After it is all said and done, I try to figure out what made her try it.  I do not dwell on it while in the pasture, but I will sit in the truck and think about it.  It usually boils down to me losing my concentration on the task at hand, and my body language changing as a result of it.  She views it as a weakness, and tries to take advantage.  She is very quick to remind me to pay attention to my own body language.  As a result of this, I have learned to also pay attention to other people's body language, and gotten quite good at it, I think.  I actually enjoy going to public places, and watching people, just to read their body language.  Give it a try, you will be amazed at what you will see when you are looking for it.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless you and yours.

Until next time,
Lisa

Barefoot, Barefoot with Boots, or Shoes

Hoof care is something that most horse people try to keep on a regular schedule of every 6-8 weeks.  Scheduling depends greatly on several factors; how fast the individual horse grows hoof, if barefoot how the individual horse wears its feet down, how a horse is kept, what type of terrain is in the horse's enclosure, whether the horse is conformationally correct, and the list can go on for what seems like eternity.  And the answers to these questions will affect how you manage your horse's hoof care schedule and how its feet are kept, whether it's barefoot or with shoes.

Before you decide to try barefoot with your horse, have a detailed conversation with your farrier, and your vet, in regards to how you use the horse, how it is kept, whether there is currently any corrective shoeing being utilized, your vet can point out the pros and cons of going barefoot for your horse.  You will also decide if you want the feet trimmed like they normally are, just minus the shoes; or if you want to start to set up the Mustang Roll, which closely mimics how Mustangs wear their feet naturally.  Not every farrier know how to develop the roll, so you may have to change farriers to find one that can; A.) properly set-up and maintain the Mustang Roll, and B.) get along with and handle your horses to your liking.  To me, B is just as, if not more important than A.  If Lady isn't happy with a farrier, than neither am I, and she makes no attempt to hide her thinking that someone is over-stepping the boundaries of their position at the barn.  She's never offered to bite or kick, but she gets agitated, and shows it, depending on how the new farrier acts, she either settles down or gets worse.  I've only ever found one farrier that bothered her, and that was because he was actually intimidated by her and she picked up on it.

Back to the proper subject, not every horse is a candidate for going barefoot, because of hoof conformation defects, living environment, and breeding (not Breed).  An extremely flat footed horse will usually no do well barefooted, but you'll never know until you try, just be aware that you may to be able to ride until your horse adjusts to being barefoot again.  Horses that live in a stall 24/7, or are only turned out for short periods in grass fields, usually aren't candidates for going completely barefoot when being ridden in anything other than an arena that is prepared and soft.  These horses, however can be barefooted the majority of the time and wear some type of hoof boot when necessary for their comfort.  They get the benefits of being barefoot, without being uncomfortable from being on footing that they are not accustomed to.

Some horses just can not be without shoes of some sort or another year round, even when they are not being heavily used.  If your horse requires corrective shoeing, you know it because you are paying for it, and usually a lot.

I personally think that every horse owner should look into the feasibility of their horses going barefoot, on a case by case situation.  Because whether it is completely barefoot all of the time; or barefoot the majority of the time with the use of hoof boots for riding on unusual or hard terrain; the horse gets the benefits of running around like nature intended it to.  I personally keep my horses barefoot, and also completely understand that this option is not necessarily  feasible for every horse.  So, I am not going to say that every horse should be kept barefoot.  I will however say that every owner should figure out what works best for their horses and them.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless you and yours.

Until next time,
Lisa

Can I Hurt "Precious"?

"Precious" is a term borrowed directly from Clinton Anderson.  He uses this name for a fictisious horse, who's owner just will not make it behave, because they can not stand the thought of hurting "Precious" in anyway.  "If I make her leave me, she will think that I don't love her anymore" or "If I hit her with a wet noodle, I will hurt her"  Neither of those two comments are anywhere near true.  I will take both of these statements and explain exactly what I mean.

First, let's examine "If I make her leave me she will think that I don't love her anymore."  Just to clarify her being close to you has absolutely nothing to do with her loving you, or you loving her.  "Precious" is constantly up in your space, and on top of you, that is not love, it's disrespect.  It's also very, very dangerous!  If she were to spook at something, she wouldn't think twice about jumping right on top of you.  It doesn't matter how big or small she is, that is going to hurt, ... you!  Make "Precious" respect your space, and then if she spooks she'll jump away from you because she will know that she is only allowed in your space when you tell her that it's alright for her to enter it.

Now, for the second statement, "If I hit her with a wet noodle, I will hurt her."  This statement to me is even more ridiculous than the first one.  Because, short of tying her up to a very solid object, and working her over with a shovel or a 2" x 4", you're not likely to physically hurt her.  I don't care how strong you are, you can not generate the type of force that another horse does kicking, and this isn't the type of hitting that any trainer that I've ever heard was talking about anyway.  When it comes to applying pressure to your horse, use as little pressure as possible that will get the job done, but as much pressure as is necessary to get the results you want.

Let's use the example of teaching a horse to lunge, counter clockwise.  The lead rope will be in your left hand and the whip/stick will be in your right hand.  The horse will be within close proximity to you, but not within your space.  Use your lead hand to gently guide the horse into the correct direction, without the horse entering your space.  If that works, great that was as little pressure as possible and got the job done.  But, if it didn't work, you need to increase the pressure until you get the response you wanted, any forward movement in a counter clockwise direction, even if its only on step, then the pressure is removed completely.  So, with your lead hand, still gently guiding, add pressure with your right/whip hand by simply lifting it behind her.  If you have not spent any time getting the horse used tot he whip, this will likely be enough pressure to make her move forward, as soon as it does, lower the whip, and repeat, gently guide, no response, raise whip, movement, lower whip, and keep repeating until it only requires being gently guided.  Eventually when you raise your left hand the horse will move off in the correct direction.  But, for this purpose, we're going to say that your horse isn't doing what you want it to do, when you want it to.

So, for arguments sake, lets say that when you lift the whip, the horse either remains standing, or starts moving but in the wrong direction.  What to do, keep the pressure from your left hand constant, but keep increasing the pressure from from your right hand gradually applying more and more pressure until the horse moves in the right direction, forward and counter clockwise.  Start with raising the whip, increase by gently waving the whip, increase the intensity of the wave, if still no forward movement, touch the horse with the whip, then tap the horse with it, and keep increasing the firmness of the tap until you get what you want.  As soon as that happens, stop all pressure completely, but not until you get forward, counter clockwise movement.  If you remove pressure before that, you will teach the horse to do what-ever it was doing at the time that you removed the pressure.  Let's say that the horse rears up, and it kinda scares you, so you remove the pressure.  Since you removed the pressure, the horse thinks that rearing up was what you were looking for.  So, the next time you start to apply pressure, before you apply as much as you did last time, she rears up again.  It freaks you out again, and you remove the pressure.  The cycle continues, and all you have taught the horse is to rear up, the horse has taught you, that if you apply pressure it will freak out and rear up.  You leave, saying, "Precious" was abused by some one in her past, and needs to be handled with care because she does not trust people."  When the reality is, that "Precious" is that way because you just trained her to be.  Now, are there horses that have trust issues with people, yes!  The paint mare in my profile pic is one of them.  When she is loose and can come and go as she pleases, she does not care who is around, new people, familiar people, it really doesn't matter.  She will let them rub on her, love on her, no problem.  But, when she has a halter and lead rope on, she is a little more leary of people that she is not familiar with.  Until she sees that person is a confident, leader she tends to kind of lean away from them.  The only people that it doesn't matter if they are confident or not is children, especially small children.  She will go above and beyond to do whatever a kid wants to.  She will actually drop her head to their shoulder level, if they are leading her around, and with her being 16.3 hands high, it's an effort on her part.

But, the truth be told, I don't handle her any differently than I handle any other horse that I've worked with, slow and steady progress.  How slow, depends on the horse's ability to learn; not their past.  Most horses live in the presence and do not dwell on the past.  All a physically abused horse needs is a strong, fair minded leader, not to be treated special because you can't let go of their past.  You keep reliving their past for them, and in an attempt to comfort them, they preceive you as weak and take full advantage and become the leader, and go from a horse that does not trust people; to a horse that tries and often succeeds at dominating people; and you excuse the behavior by saying, "Precious was abused in the past."  It's really a vicious cycle.

All any horse needs is:

1. Water
2. Food - grass, hay or grain, doesn't really matter.
3. A safe environment - stall or pasture they don't even require shelter, and will rarely use it when you think they should.  Mine use the run-in for a restroom and that's about it.
4. A strong, fair-minded leader - and if you are not willing to step up and be this, they will, and their idea of appropriate pressure can easily injure an/or kill us.

They do not need to be coddles, or need excuses made for poor behavior, they are not "Precious."  They need to be treated with respect, and expected to treat you with respect, period!  I hope that no one took this post as a personal assault on them, as that is not how it was meant.  It was meant in an educational manor, and I hope someone learned something from it.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless  you and yours.

Until next time, 

Lisa

The Worst Behavior that You Allow, is the Best Behavior that You can Expect.

Today's title comes directly from a Horse Forum member named Cheri.  It is the most honest statement about training that I have ever heard.  She also has a great thread on that website titles, "Every person IS a horse trainer..." and she states that any person that is around a horse, is in fact training that horse.  And for whatever reason, this obvious statement is completely overlooked, or missed altogether.  Training horses is not hard work, especially training them for bad habits, of any kind.  That is actually quite simple, and is the reas that most beginner horse owners, buy a perfectly mannered horses, and a few months later have an ill-mannered brat.  The beginner unknowingly trains the horse to be the brat, and never even realize it.  The hard work in straining comes when someone, or the beginner decides that enough is enough and tries to untrain the bad habits that the horse has learned.  This is one reason that if you would like to own a horse in the future, riding lessons are a good idea now.  They give a beginner a chance to be around horses under the supervision o a knowledgeable horse person.

If riding lessons are out of the question for whatever reason, make an attempt to find someone in your area that knows something about horses.  Most horse people will gladly share their knowledge about horses. You may go through several mentors over the ears as your knowledge increases, but they will be the best investment in time and money that you will ever spend.

If you don't want to find a mentor, or can't find one, you have a couple of choices.  Books, are a good start, especially if you are someone that is good at reading a book and then applying that knowledge.  There are also videos that you can buy or rent.  There is a website that is like Netflix, which you can stream videos like the ones you buy from people like Clinton Anderson, Pat Parelli, and the like.  There are also thousands of training videos on youtube, but be careful because there are some videos on there that will quickly lead you down the wrong road.  Depending on your location and monitary situation, going to clinics is also a way to get access to knowledgeable horse people, I know that all of the ones that I've checked into, spectators are only charged like $25.00/day, and you can still ask question and get answers. They are a good way to be introduced to the world of horse training without having to buy a horse.  And there is a huge variety of chilcians to choose from.  I've seen a few of Clinton Anderson's videos, and he is brilliant at explaining how to do something, but I've also heard that he can be quite harsh and crass at those clinics.  But that can also be because he tends to not sugar coat things, if someone is doing something wrong, he will quickly point it out.  I personally would love to go watch Buck Brennamen, especially after watching his movie, "Buck" he seems to be a sincerely genuine person.  And that seems to be a rarity these days.

Regardless of what route you choose to gain knowledge from; Trainer/Instructor, mentor, books, videos, or clinics; horse knowledge is something that never stops coming in, especially where training is concerned.  And, since we are all trainers, we should never stop learning, ever.  When we stop learning, we stop progressing in our relationship with our horses, and when you stop progressing, you might as well just sell out and move on.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless you and yours.

Until next time,
Lisa

Horses and Sunburn.

If you've ever owned a horse that has very much white on either it's face or body; then you are very aware of the fact that during the summer they get a sunburn just like people do.  With the exception that they will never tan, instead they just keep burning.  Now, if the white is not covering the area where the saddle sits, yyou can easily continue riding your horse throughout the summer with little or no thought to this subject.  If the white is on the horse's nose, it may not take to being bridled because of your hand being near it's now extremely sensitive nose.

So, how do you handle a horse that has been sunburned?  My suggestion would be to prevent the sunburn in the first place.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure, after all.  But, I ask how to handle a horse that has been sunburned, didn't I?  If the horse only has burns on a small area, such as it's nase, the best thing that I have found to treat it, is a cheap Vitamin E cream that is in the lotion aisle at Wal-Mart.  It is like, less than $2.00 for 4 ounces, and you use it sparingly, so it lasts a while.  If the horse has large areas, you will have to resort to one of the methods of prevention that I'm about to describe, and wait for the burns to heal.

Methods of Sunburn Prevention:

1. Stall kept - If you have access to stalls, you can put the horse up during the majority of the daylight hours.  Like us, horses get Vitamin D from sunlight, so they do need to be turned out some during the day to soak it up.  The downfall to this method, is that some horses become hot when being kept in a stall for long hours.
2. Sunscreens - Yes, they actually make sunscreen specifically for horses.  As you can imagine, it is expensive, like the majority of products marketed for horses.  You apply it to the white areas of the horse, with a sponge that greatly resembles the one that some women use to apply make-up.  The stuff appears to be mostly Zinc Oxide, you can tell where it has been applied.  It will sweat off, so it will have to be applied every morning.  I would just as soon, go buy a sunscreen that is sweat resistant with a SPF of >50, and use that.
3. Bug sheets and Fly masks - Some of the bug sheets marketed provide some UVA/UVB protection, but not all of them, and the majority of the fly masks do.  Depending on where you live, your horses may bet a little warm usung this option.
4. Feed - The only feed that I know of that will prevent sunburn, is Purina's Omolene 200.  My paint mare is probably 80% white, and lives in a 16 acre pasture 24/7.  She has not had a sunburn in years, except for when I changed her feed to Purina's Strategy.  Within two weeks she was burnt to where she didn't want to be touched.  I switched her back to the Omolene 200, and in about a week, she was good to go.  I even asked my vet if he had any other customers that had noticed this particular side effect of the 200.  He said that no one else had, but that it was likely due to some vitamin or mineral in the feed that reduced the sensitivity to the sun.  After I figured it out, anytime someone talks about their horses getting a sunburn, I tell them to switch their feed to Omolene 200.

Above are several options for preventing sunburn in your beloved white horses.  Take whatever measures you want to, to safe guard them from the sun.  They deserve to be comfortable, and I'm sure we all know how uncomfortable a sunburn can be, especially when you're outside with one.  Take care of them, and they will take care of you.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless you and yours.

Until next time, 

Lisa

Pets or Livestock?

Many people consider their horses as pets, and some consider them family.  And the pets versus livestock discussion usually quickly becomes a heated argument; with die hard fans on both sides.  Many consider horses as pets because of projected emotions that they place upon the horses.  Horses do not show emotions like we do, in fact they have thousands of years worth of instinct instructing them not to.  Respect for you, is the closest thing to love as they are going to get.  And as long as they have food, water and space to move around, they are good to go, I guess you could project happiness on them here.  They do not get angry with you if you "punish" them or make them do something that they may not necessarily want to do, like leave their heard mates or cross a stream, when it's over, it's over.  They may appear to be mad or upset with you, but in reality they just think that you are over-stepping your role in this herd dynamic.  You haven't been the leader, so they have had to be, and now you're trying to tell them what to do?  You're in for a fight, just like any other herd member that tries to move up in the pecking order!  At the end of the day, all your horse wants, is to know who the leader is between the two of you.  And it has to be either you or the horse, and preferably you.

What is considered a pet?  Often the definition of what animals qualify as pets will be laid out in your state and/or local legislature.  To me, a pet is something that can be kept at your residence, even if you live in an apartment in a major metropolitan area.  Dogs, cats, birds, and some exotic animals fit in this description.

What is a barn yard animal?  These are small animals that are usually found in a farmer's yard which legislature usually prevents these animals as being kept as pets in apartments or communities where the lots are small, and your neighbors are close.  Chickens, ducks, and rabbits are a few examples.

What is livestock?  Most legislature defines bovine, equine, swine,  and ovine, of any size or variety whether kept for pleasure, food, or breeding purposes as livestock.  So a horse of any kind by definition of law is livestock, regardless of what purpose that horse serves.

To me livestock is any animal that requires more than 1-1 1/2 acres per head.  In terms that everyone can kind of grasp, if you lived in New York City, NY, U.S.A. in an apartment that overlooked Central Park, you would have to lease or rent a place to keep a horse 24/7 that makes them livestock.  You may treat them like a pet, but that does not change the fact that they are livestock.

Regardless of how you see your horses, the law and law makers see them as livestock, period.

Good luck, happy trails, stay safe, and God bless you and yours.

Until next time,
Lisa