When my young Percheron X Toby and I are riding out in the wide open spaces bordering our little ranch, and things begin to feel slightly out of control, when the powerful horse feels the need to rush forward out of the sheer joy of all that blue sky and four long legs, then we do what the classical riders suggest -- we return to the circle where we work out the kinks and get our brains and bodies back in synch. I sit deep in the saddle, think long long muscles, looking ahead, remembering to breathe, as we progress around the arc with some degree of softness. I remind myself to keep my hands still, to advance my inside seat bone, use that outside leg. And for heaven's sake, not to stiffen up or I'll be bouncing all over the place and his spine will drop. He seems to appreciate the effort and bends around my inside leg, although I can feel him drifting, oh so sneakily, he thinks, the first few times around at least, towards all those open acres of pinon and juniper that are calling his name. Eaaaasy, I say, to the horse and to myself.

How many circles are safe places? A circle of friends and family. A quilting circle where the air is riddled with idle chit chat and soft laughter. In the circle of a lover's embrace. The circle I drew in the sand with the toe of my sneaker during a late summer night game of kick the can when I was in the fifth grade? Where you were safe and no one else could get you? When the choir sang from the hymnal, "Oh the circle, won't be broken ..." The Native American healing circle.

20 meters. We've come full circle, then.

What else?

Posted by Kimberly on June 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a while since I've worked with my young Percheron Toby. Yesterday was a glorious 52 degrees and no wind with a clear blue New Mexico sky and that warm sun you can feel because of the high altitude here. I saddled up the big guy and took him to the center of the round pen. Stood on my bucket (I still can't get up there without a mounting block of some kind) and he moved off. I brought him back to the center. Asked him to stand. Got back on the bucket. He moved off.

So I decided that this called for some serious measure. I asked him, calmly and kindly, to yield his hindquarters around and around. Then I stopped and asked him to stand for mounting. He moved off again. Again, I went through the routine of asking him to yield those big hindquarters. No temper. No expectations of how I was going to get this right, right now. I breathed deeply and softly as the Percheron released around me. Approaching the training in an almost meditative state.

And, guess what? He stood for mounting every time I asked the rest of the afternoon. I guess he decided that if he wanted to move those feet and not stand for me, then I'd have him move his feet alright! He got some rest and relief by standing still, doing what I was asking him to do.

Posted by Kimberly on December 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Who would have thought that a horse would fetch a bone? I wonder how she taught him to do that? Does anyone have any ideas as to how this might be accomplished? I’m thinking that with Toby, I could put him in the round pen with no distractions, toss an interesting looking toy on the ground and just let his natural curiosity take over, then reward him big time when he picks it up.

Hmmmmmm. How to start?

Posted by Kimberly on December 16, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is an excellent trick trainer at work.

Does anyone have any idea what breed this adorable little pony is? What a charming little soul! I really like the lightness with which this trainer works. In training my big Percheron horse Toby, instilling a sense of lightness in the large draft horse is always at the forefront of my mind. I probably shouldn't admit this, but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this elusive quality called lightness. Am I just weird, or does anyone else out there do that too? There are tricks in this trick training video that are not in any of my trick training books. Like that little wave the pony offers up and how he removes her jacket with his teeth.

Posted by Kimberly on December 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Highlights from a twenty-minute trick training session with my four-year-old percheron horse Toby yesterday. We're no longer using the rope for the shake hands trick. During this session, we progress beyond using the wand as a cue to only my voice (with the extension of my right hand towards his left leg and the command "Shake").

Toby offered me a couple of unsolicited handshakes here. What did I learn from that? (Besides almost getting my knee whacked. He's not aiming for me, mind you. But this is not like teaching your cute little pup to shake hands!) Well, an important safety consideration when teaching your horse tricks is to watch for these impromptu offers during early training and also to insist that the horse only offer the trick when asked. I'm thinking about what the ramifications can be longer term, when I teach him to rear, for example.

Dennis was worried that the farrier would fire me because I'm teaching Toby to shake hands. However, when Mike the farrier came out on Friday, Toby was as good as gold and didn't offer to shake hands with him, thank goodness.

Does anyone have any feedback for me? Good or bad, I would welcome it! Not only will I learn from your comments, but any readers out there who are interested in pursuing trick training.

My trick training notes: 1) Keep horse from "begging" for carrots during session 2) How do I deal with unsolicited offers of the trick from my horse? 3) How do we make the trick prettier? Cleaner? 4) Wean off of the treats eventually. Horse will work for praise as you master the trick? 5) Begin learning a couple of other tricks. One that doesn't involve the legs and hooves and one that does. You don't want the horse to get bored. 6) More consistent practice in short short sessions. 7) Think about and anticipate potential safety issues.

Toby and I are a work in progress. Really, this is way too much fun. I realize that I am grinning from ear to ear through a lot of this. I think Toby likes it too.

(Thanks to my 9-year-old cameraman C. Superb job, buddy!)

Related links:
Trick Training Journal
Ringling Bros.

Posted by Kimberly on November 5, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Improving the riders' tone and feel for the correct position is an essential part of the first two years' training at the Spanish Riding School, Vienna. (check out Classical Dressage)

Riding on the longe line teaches balance and the correct seat. It also inspires confidence, especially in the beginning rider. This is a very safe approach to teaching children. (And way fun.) It's excellent for the rider whose been overhorsed in the past (many kids fit into this category) and have had a bad experience. Riding on the longe provides a safe environment in which to help heal the fearful rider.

You need a solid horse (temperament, temperament, temperament), a good longer, an arena with soft footing (mine is pretty poor), a simple vaulting surcingle (you can use a saddle too), and a longe whip. (We weren't using a cavesson, bridle, and side reins here, since we're just starting with this horse and this was kind of an impromptu check-it-out session.)

This is quarterhorse Piñon's first experience on the longe since we've had her! I think she had been longed before, but I suspect in mindless circles just cantering around and around to blow off extra energy. Prior to putting the kids on her, it didn't take long to get her calmed down and help her to realize that she didn't have to go fast and that I wasn't going to chase her down with the whip. She is so gentle and agreeable, and settled pretty quickly into the idea that she can indeed just walk on the longe and it's OK. (In fact, it's very good.) I had her fairly relaxed with good control of her gaits and speed with just a halter and longe line.

Posted by Kimberly on October 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our second horse trick training session. This was the best one out of about 10 tries yesterday afternoon.

Teaching this shaking hands trick is tiring! (Although Toby never seems any worse for the wear.) A lot of fun too.

Posted by Kimberly on October 24, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out this gorgeous Flickr photoset by jennerator.

I have an audience. And assistants.

The tenacious heeler sisters sit on their haunches by the gate. Caprichosa and Teyla peer at us over the fence, having caught a whiff of the goodies that 9-year-old C. guards in his jacket. 10-year-old J. reads aloud from page 46 of Carole Fletcher's book Trickonometry: The Secrets of Teaching Your Horse Tricks.

HOW DO YOU DO? Shaking Hands. Equipment needed: halter, lead rope, soft cotton lead rope with snap, whip, carrots.

Continue reading "Ringling Bros." »

Posted by Kimberly on October 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out T3XA5's marvelous photos on Flickr.

I am feeling rather smug atop my big Percheron.

We are venturing out at a ground-eating walk down the rutted road just behind the ranch. Toby's hindquarters roll like dark waves and break over my hips, advance and retreat like the tide beneath my sitz bones with each step forward. We wade downhill into a cool pool of early autumn air. I am admiring the dolphin-like arc of my horse's neck, the coarse and unruly mane that is becoming less resistant to taming, the way the brand new bit catches the late afternoon sunshine.

When suddenly Toby's neck and head disappear between his two stiff front legs, and he is crow hopping. No! I correct him sternly. I pull on the reins, but this is like that time I went deep sea fishing and got a sail fish on the other end of the line. There was no way I could reel him in.

Continue reading "Deep sea" »

Posted by Kimberly on September 14, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've never started a horse from the very beginning before. It's a little scary, because I don't want to mess things up. In fact, I've dragged my feet about really working with Toby because I've been filled with indecision and a sense of just plain old scared. After all, I'm no professional horse trainer, I tell myself (several times). What if I do this wrong? What if I do that wrong?

So, what do you do when you don't have the money for a professional horse trainer? And this is something you've always wanted to do besides? Well. You just trust your knowledge. And your intentions. And you start.

And it's very exciting.

I find that during this training process, in the midst of all that thinking and little wheels turning about where my weight is, keeping light hands, open the rein and invite him into the turn, use that outside leg to bring his hindquarters around the circle, how am I going to help the horse learn this or that, etc., etc., etc., I am tapping into something much deeper.

An iridescent pool full of dreams.

An ancient art form.

And ... to my utter delight ... something about not being separate from anything, but a part of it all.

Way cool.

Flickr photographs. I love these extraordinary photos of horses from Ride n' Fast & Take n' Chances. willis.dewitt and UGAclint have captured the essence of the Sangre de Cristo peaks.

Posted by Kimberly on September 4, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I did a good half an hour of ground driving with Toby last night. We marched all over the field.

Yes, marched.

That Percheron’s legs are way longer than mine. And he has four of them. (Not to mention the advantage of his 4 tender years compared to my almost 45.) It would not be exaggerating to say that the big jet horse strode forward, all business, sleek hindquarters fully engaged, glossy tail swishing back and forth just above the ground, while I jogged along behind.

And I had help. My (now) 10-year-old-daughter J. trotted right along behind me, holding the trailing ends of the long lines, mirroring my every move. “I want to learn too,” she was saying, breathless, always aspiring to become a trainer. (Her legs are even shorter than mine.)

The three of us walked cruised through the pinon trees like some kind of strange and unusual train—

Big-Black-Steam-Engine Percheron.

Middle-Aged-Mom Freight Car.

Girl-Equestrian Caboose.

Posted by Kimberly on August 23, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Correct longeing is an art. It does not just mean making the horse run round in a circle; this would be no more than the task for an inexperienced person. Longeing may be used for three different purposes: 1) Exercising the horse. 2) Training the rider. 3) Training the young horse. It is on the longe that the foundation of obedience is laid and the horse is accustomed to being guided by having to constantly follow the turn required by the action of the longe.
~ Alois Podhajsky, The Complete Training of Horse and Rider

While Col. Podhajsky (a former Director of the Spanish Riding School who, together with General Patton, saved the Lipizzaner horses from the Nazis in WWII) could no doubt give me a lot of helpful hints about my technique, I bet he'd agree that there’s something almost meditative about doing the basic longe work with the horse. In this video, I’ll show you my basic longeing tools and talk about the use of the longeing whip, followed by some free-longeing in the round pen where I ask my horse to demonstrate very basic maneuvers―the halt, and a change of direction. I hope you’ll get the nice zen feel of the whole experience.

Note: I’m planning to use Toby for some equestrian vaulting in the future, so you’ll hear me using the voice command “brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” instead of “whoa”. I suspect that some people will look at me kind of funny out on the mountain trails one of these days when they hear me asking Toby―

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Brrrrrrr!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I think I sound like a big momma bird. Or maybe someone very very cold.

Monty Roberts halter available at montyroberts.com

Posted by Kimberly on August 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have you ever spent twenty minutes chasing your horse around the pasture before going on a ride? Here's one way to create an easier-to-catch horse.

How do you catch your horse? Have any secrets or tips to share here? I'd love to hear them.

Video credits: 9-year-old cameragirl extraordinaire, J.; Acoustic sunrise guitar by acousticryan

Posted by Kimberly on July 31, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

At this stage every effort should be made to avoid a fight as it is so important that the horse should not realise his power and be encouraged to dispute the will of the rider... He (the rider) should not forget the youthfulness and inexperience of his horse and show leniency to his faults, overlooking playful bucking which is an expression of youthful gaiety to which the horse is entitled.
~ Alois Podhajsky on The Young Horse in the First Phase of Training, The Complete Training of Horse and Rider

With Toby on a loose lead line, we head into the pines.

I need to go for a walk today (part of my plan to lose this extra twenty pounds), and the young Percheron needs to get out so we can continue working on his ground manners, which are pretty darn good now, by the way.

Continue reading "Gaiety" »

Posted by Kimberly on July 20, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

6:10 a.m. The horses are loaded into the trailer. We're running behind The Schedule. (I am married to a former Navy man.) And Matilda-the-tenacious-heeler is nowhere to be found.

We're stomping around in front of the house calling, "Matilda! Matilda!" The two horses in the trailer are whinnying and whickering to the three left behind in the pasture as Dennis is muttering something about how if that damn dog is going to be a big pain in the ass we're not taking her to the mountains with us. She can just stay at home.

I know we're both thinking that the blue heeler dog is hiding somewhere nearby, peering at us from behind a pinon, no doubt, because when we first brought her home from the Animal Shelter last autumn, she wouldn't have anything to do with riding in the truck, with the exception of the ride home from doggie jail, for which she seemed exceedingly grateful. She did have a wonderful dog time on her first trip to the mesa with us a couple of weeks ago, I'm reminding myself. I keep looking.

Continue reading "That's my dog - Part 1" »

Posted by Kimberly on June 21, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

My son’s new horse Piñon doesn’t come to the barn at breakfast time. After I feed everyone else, I wander up to the top of the pasture and find her with a good sized piece of dead piñon branch protruding from her right front leg, right behind her knee. Her leg above the knee is so swollen she can barely move it, let alone walk anywhere. The mare whickers at me pitifully, as if to say “Where in the heck have you been?”

Continue reading "Staying with the horse" »

Posted by Kimberly on April 24, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wild as a deer.
~ My farrier on his horses’ behavior after a long, cold, dark winter of being left pretty much up to their own devices.

This sounds just like something my grandma from Maud, Oklahoma would have said. People don’t talk like this much anymore, which is too bad. I like the poetry of this type of language. (And a good drawl makes it even prettier.)

Doing some ground work with 3-year-old Toby last night, I understood exactly what my farrier was talking about. I hate to say it, but my big lovely pet was wild as a deer.

Continue reading "Wild as a deer" »

Posted by Kimberly on April 11, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watching my little boy’s quarter horse trying to fit in with a whole new herd this week while adjusting to her new home reminds me of how difficult and scary it was to be the new kid in school. (Which I was several times.) Upon bringing the mare home, she transformed from a calm, collected model of equine decorum to a nervous, scared horse. As much as I wish I could, I can’t just talk to Piñon and let her know everything’s going to be OK, but I can communicate to her that this is a safe place, that she belongs here, and that we’re trustworthy.

How am I doing that?

Touch.

Continue reading "Raccoon touches and the lick of the cow's tongue" »

Posted by Kimberly on March 29, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I long lined my three-year-old percheron Toby for the first time yesterday. We’ve done a lot of free longeing, joining up, and longeing on a single line, but this business with two lines is a good foundation for actual riding, because I can teach the horse both about the rein and the leg aids with the lines. I used a Monty Roberts dually halter.

We worked in the round pen, because that is the safest place to begin. A couple of circles to the left. A couple of circles to the right, with me walking at an angle off of the horse’s hindquarters on the inside of the circle. I left the lines long, trailing behind me on the ground, and somehow managed not to get tangled in them or step on them. (Longeing for some equestrian vaulting practices while handling that heavy, long vaulting whip has helped me become more coordinated.)

Continue reading "The gringa and her long lines" »

Posted by Kimberly on March 2, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

While I waited to pick up my children from their riding lessons at the Santa Fe Horse Park, one of the polo pros came trotting by on his plucky little horse, a throng of polo ponies in tow. This was no single-file endeavor. The copper-colored ponies enveloped him and his mount in a flurry of glistening manes, arched necks, flaring nostrils, flickering ears, sparkling eyes, swishing tails like banners. The little herd buzzed past me in a cloud of churning dust. Twenty lively stepping hooves seemed to belong to one creature instead of five.

Continue reading "Teaching your horse to pony" »

Posted by Kimberly on January 11, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A horse who knows how to neck rein is a sheer joy on the trail. You can begin teaching the neck rein regardless of your horse’s age. I work on it with my horses every time we’re on the trail. My little rescue appaloosa is beginning to get it even though we haven’t had a lot of time for practice. Like most things in horse training, consistency is the key to teaching the neck rein.

So how do you navigate the change from direct reining to a turn whenever your horse feels the weight of a light rein against his neck?

The answer is threefold.

Continue reading "The joy of neck reining" »

Posted by Kimberly on January 5, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

After spending several days sitting in the paddock with our little rescue horse Teyla, in an attempt to gain her confidence, we were ready to move on.

I haltered her and led her over to the round pen for a simple join-up exercise. I was not prepared for what happened.

Continue reading "Follow me, little horse" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Argentine horse tamer Fernando Noailles lies on 'Madrid' a five-year-old jet black stallion and puts the horse into a state bordering on the hypnotic at his farm in La Cabrera. Noailles is an expert in equine behaviour and clients from Patagonia to Paris seek him out when a recalcitrant stallion or mare needs breaking in. AFP - Wed Dec 21,10:58 AM ET

A lifelong horseman, Noailles relates how he learned taming techniques through non-violent means just as he entered his teens—

"I'm not an inventor, nor a witchdoctor. I simply use techniques which have been around for millennia, from a time when the man-horse relationship was closer."

Continue reading "The horse tamer" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nearly every evening for a couple of weeks, my husband and I went down to the paddock and simply … sat. Now that may not sound very inspiring, I admit. But the change in this abused horse's behavior was.

Initially, the horse stayed as far away from us as possible. Each time we entered the paddock, she would very proactively turn her back to us until all we could see were those speckled, branded hindquarters. Her message was a clear, “I can’t stop you from coming in here, and you can’t make me look at you or have anything to do with you.” Then after a couple of days, when the horse realized that we were merely going to sit and not try to approach her, her natural curiosity began to get the best of her.

Continue reading "Horse sitting :: part 2" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 16, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over at Horse Bliss, Darren and Mary write in Curiosity Creates Confidence―

“A secret recipe to horsemanship is to create curiosity. Rather than you approaching the horse, try drawing it towards you. This may take time depending on the horse’s conditioning. Horses that have not been exposed to human interaction or have had negative encounters with humans may let the fear drive them away more than a horse that has been handled humanely by humans.”

I knew that reaching our rescue horse, Teyla, was going to be quite a stretch. It was obvious that she’d had bad experiences with people.

I was amazed that, despite her history, she wasn’t what I'd exactly call mean. Yes, she’d done a highly effective job of cowing her previous owner by turning her hindquarters to him whenever he approached and refusing to let him handle her hind hooves.

Continue reading "Horse sitting :: part 1" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 16, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Instead of cattle, some cutting horse trainers are using bison. Apparently bison have much more stamina than cattle and rarely stand still, which makes them a good challenge for both horse and rider!

This from a recent Billings Gazette article―

Raising bison these days isn't just about giving consumers a different meat.

Now, instead of cattle, some who train cutting horses for competition are using the majestic animals that once thundered across the plains of the American West. Cutting horses are horses bred and trained for removing, or "cutting," cows or calves from a herd.

Continue reading "Bison sold to cutting horse trainers" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 9, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been told by several horse trainers that training the rescue horse can be challenging, possibly even more so than training the adopted wild horse. But the benefits can be enormous, both for horse and rider.

In a previous post The Rescue Horse, I described our meeting a nine-year-old appaloosa mare, whom we decided to bring home last Spring. If Teyla (the name my husband gave her based upon the “T” and “A” branded on her hindquarters) could speak, I wonder what stories she might have to tell me?

Continue reading "The challenge of training the rescue horse" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 9, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was looking for a good pack horse early last Spring, and the man on the phone told me the appaloosa mare he'd advertised in the Thrifty Nickle had packed game out of the Pecos Wilderness. He said she was as sure-footed as a mule. She was hard to catch. She was small. She wouldn't let you handle her back hooves. The price was firm—$500.

I wasn't quite prepared for what I found when we went to take a look at her that evening. In her 10 x 12 pen, she looked even smaller than I'd anticipated, a little over 14 hands and small boned, almost frail. She had a "- N" branded on one shoulder, which a little web research later revealed to be the Navajo Nation brand. A "Q" a "T," and an "A" were branded on one hip, and a bunch of unintelligible numbers on the other. Like a math problem gone bad.

Continue reading "The Rescue Horse" »

Posted by Kimberly on December 5, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)