Week 1
When starting horses for the public and also myself to a degree, I go in with a plan for the hoped/expected result. My approaches may alter per individual horse but I usually have most breakers ticking along at a similar time frame.
I had to throw all that out the window when I took on Callisto.
My plan was to expect the unexpected with absolutely no expectations!
So this week I wanted her to settle into her new surroundings, with new smells, noises and neighbouring company.
I learnt by watching her load at the VBA that she was going to be an extremely smart mare, but also one not to rush or take advantage of.
So I focused purely on connection and trust this week, the first days were about accepting me in her space which is a large roundyard, eventually drawing her in a few steps by the second and even finishing on a bit of following around.
On Wednesday I brought in some bribery - a handful of hay to reward that draw, and when she reached out and took a mouthful tears come to my eyes!
Thursday morning I walked in with a handful again and as soon as she seen me she engaged and walked straight up, a bit of zig-zagging as she shortened the space but she come up herself and took a mouthful and walked away, by the third mouthful she stayed with me. ❤️
I also realised she had decided to eat her hard feed the night before for the first time, so Thursday arvo I sat in the middle with the bucket and she came up eating in front of me without retreating which was a huge win!
Today (Friday) will be much the same I feel, but if anything extraordinary happens I'll update you!
She's definitely a spritely girl, if she gets worried or cautious she'll slink away and move those feet like a cutting horse 😅 but the engagement she's already showing and increasing is so promising and already incredibly rewarding! (Yes I think I tear up daily!)
Week 3
After the first week with VBA Callisto, I spent the weekend introducing the flag, getting her to approach and touch with her nose and I’d back off, with her wanting more and following around. I worked it up over each session over Saturday, and finished off with her allowing me rub her up the face and along the side a little bit.
Over the early part of week 2, I would work with the flag, and swap to my hand to get a touch on her muzzle – noticing a HUGE difference! By then I was working the flag up and through her ears with ease and she was totally relaxed, as soon as my hand approached she was wide eyed and shook her nose toward me. She didn’t seem overly offended, just alot more wary of it!
I started to see if I could get a light touch up the nose a bit, which she was handling ok but out of nowhere (well she was probably giving me signs and I missed them!) She did pin the ears and lunged forward.
It did rattle me a bit as I wasn’t expecting it at all, but I went straight back to my flag – knowing she was comfortable with that – and didn’t push my hand further, just reverted back to the flag acceptance and quit with that.
Mid week I decided after that I wanted to get a rope on, not to anchor her down but to have a little more contact, just to keep her engaged a little more as she tended to lose interest in the flag and wander off, and I felt like we were at a bit of a stand still in the way of progress.
As I’m no roper, I hooked the rope through the end of my flag and (pure fluke) I was able to rub in up her face and over her ears.
So I worked with that for the rest of the week, in the end I was able to rub the rope up her head and over to catch her, getting a bit of leading through that, but if she got worried and trotted off I’d let the rope slide and regain her once she settled – which was in no time.
By the end she was giving to pressure even if she chose to leave and with no worry or anxiety.
The rope really was a game changer, it allowed me to keep her engaged, limit her flight response (but not control) and let me introduce my hand easier (swapping from the flag to hand still) and with a lot more acceptance – finishing up week 2 with nice pats down her face! Woohoo!
Over the following weekend I was able to get a halter on her – surprisingly enough she sniffed the halter and let me rub it up and down her face without any worry – yet if I swapped to my hand she was still wary! 🤣
Being a nylon halter it only has a short poll piece, and she’s still not 100% happy with my hand/s on the side of her face, so I threaded baling twine through the last hole and through the buckle, so I slid the nose piece over, then the poll piece up and over the ears, and was able to pull the buckle up with the twine. The whole time she stood patiently which was a huge relief!
I still used the rope for leading as such just as she wasn’t too sure of the halter pressure to begin, but over the following days I used both “leads” and today she was leading around really lovely with just the halter lead and no freak out moments.
Over the week she’s gotten a lot more relaxed with my hand rubbing her, with no more head tossing or worried eyes, finally enjoying it (I think!)
Today I was able to rub down each side of her neck and stand at the side which was a huge accomplishment for her!
The third week wasn’t really about getting big goals, it was about repetition and acceptance and I really feel we achieved that. She’s still got a bit of flight but even if she does have a moment, she’s quick to turn back to me on her own terms and come back relaxed and pick up where we left off.
Week 5
These 2 weeks have been relatively quiet, and “boring” as such, but it’s been the most rewarding progress over the time – especially when compared to our previous report a fortnight ago.
My daily routine appears like this;
- Poop scoop, with her following and always curious.
- CopRice breakfast – sometimes before or during the clean up, but it’s funny at times she’ll come out to see what I’m doing even with her feed there.
- Treats, just getting her to approach to get her treat – lucerne cubes which she LOVES! (when I gave her a 5 day course of panacur it was the only thing that would make sure she polished off the feed!)
So I go in, give her a treat pat her head and just be with her. It’s so nice to not have her walk away now! I also work on standing to her near side and have her reach around me for her treat to lead up to haltering as she’s still hesitant to allow that – which brings me to my next step!
- Come in with my rope, rubbing it up her head and over. She just accepts this and responds so well so while she’s relaxed and accepting I’m sticking to it for the time being.
- Put on the pull back collar. I like this as she still leads better from neck pressure rather than the halter, I thread the lead through the halter and onto the collar to give pressure on both so eventually the collar will fade away. But also for tie up (more so early on) I like the collar rope. In saying this, her first tie up was perfect and has been so ever since.
- I take the rope off and we have some lead sessions, tie up sessions and slowly working down her body in pats over the 2 weeks, working in between client horses and horrible weather!
Patting has been one of the biggest accomplishments, since week 3, I’ve been able to get her to really enjoy a face pat, and slowly been working down to her rump. Any sudden movement or hand change she’ll have a bit of a freak out, but she just shuffles to the side with all the room allowed to take off if she wanted, but she gives to pressure in a relaxed manner.
Another accomplishment was leading out of the roundyard and into the arena and even out onto the grass!
First day out she took off, kinda expected, but she stopped at the end of the arena and allowed me to pick up her lead and carry on. Since then she hasn’t once taken the lead, very happy with her grazing time on some lovely grass daily.
But the highlight was yesterday, as I walked down to the arena, she seen me and called out. Talk about melting my heart. ❤️
So when I say it’s been “boring” it might be to some but I’m over the moon with the walls she’s chipping down and trust she’s giving me. 🥰
Week 7
These past 2 weeks have been much of the same, plenty of bonding and increasing the pats down her body with alot more acceptance.
In the early days of patting past the head, she was very nervy, if she wasn’t rushing away it was very evident on her face that those were indeed her intentions! So I knew I had to tread lightly and just solidify each area of her body with touch in accordance with her acceptance.
She’s now at the stage where I can pat down to her hamstrings while she sits there licking and chewing with her head lowered and relaxed which might seem so simple, but for her it’s a huge trust step.
With her now looking to me with interest and coming up as soon as I’d walk in her yard, (still with the help of treats!) I felt it was time to give her some freedom, so 6 days ago she was finally introduced to a large grassy paddock which she was incredibly thankful for! There was no running away or around, just head down and enjoying some lovely grass at her leisure.
Since then I would just go out once or twice a day, give her a treat and a pat on the face and neck and not ask anything more.
We might only be at patting down stage still, but for this beautiful wild girl it’s been a huge ask to get to that point and she’s answered with trust and acceptance so a week of not asking anything more was well deserved!
I got her in yesterday – still using the rope to loop over her head as her halter was removed when she went out, and she was a different horse. She was so relaxed, not at all jumpy even when patting with 2 hands and chopping and changing.
I introduced “whoa” moving her feet back and a slight intro to lunging (we’d previously worked on disengaging the hind) and she walked a couple circles each direction in a relaxed manner, then looking to me for more instructions.
When I think back to a few weeks ago, when she lunged at me with teeth bared and any sudden movement or change would send her flying away, I really had my doubts as to if she’d let me in. Her flight instinct (and fight at that one point) was so strong I really had to question my expectations (and my sanity!😅)