Week 1
I am very excited to have welcomed home VBA Aztec, a 7 year old gelding from Kosciusko National Park. As we only had an hour journey home from VBA on Sunday I decided to start Monday morning with a brief training session looking to establish tracking and draw. Throughout the week I have continued working with Aztec for 15-20mins twice a day building on these skills. Currently Aztec will walk towards me when approached from a front on direction and follow me around the arena in a circle pattern. Aztec appears to be settling in well, befriending his neighbours, diving into his hay (I think he feels its rather nice to have no other mouths competition for food) and generally being easy going about the activities around the farm. He is naturally curious and shows a quiet bravery and a willingness to engage. To say he has stolen my heart already would not be a lie.
Week 3
Aztec and I have spent the last two week consolidating the basics and working on developing his confidence around people. While Aztec appeared to be relaxed around people, dogs and the day to day farm activities and machinery, the more I have got to know him, the more I have noticed the subtle cues that display his underlying concerns. These cues may be as small as an ear flick or the twitching of the muscles in his forelimbs as he thinks about moving away. At times it has felt like our progress has been minimal, achieving small goals, which to the outside observer don’t appear to be much, while being essential to building a trusting and equal partnership. I truly feel Aztec has lived his life by hiding behind others and staying small and when asked to step into the spotlight with me has found it all a little bit overwhelming. I noticed Aztec did not appear overly comfortable interacting with the whip displaying inconsistent responses, accepting one moment turning and fleeing the next. I elected to remove the whip from my training and work on developing his confidence being in close proximity to me. Using his established hind quarter yields and draw skills I would ask Aztec to approach me and allow him to set the distance from me which he felt comfortable. Each offer was rewarded with the release of pressure (me turning my back or stepping away). Gradually, and at times, almost imperceptibly Aztec approached closer on his own with less and less of an ask from me. As his confidence has grown Aztec has initiated touch, nuzzled my arm and face and bumped my hand in a relaxed and contented manner.
I am so incredibly proud of this little horses ‘try’ and genuinely appreciate how hard he is working at learning these new skills.
Throughout Aztecs training I have been supporting him energetically with energetic healing and releasing trapped emotions. This enables me to release energetic blocks which may present as training, physical or psychological issues. Not surprisingly there has been lots of work around physical touch, captivity and being held in yards and early life incidents that have had significant emotional impacts on him. Working through energetic and emotional blocks allows Aztec to return to and remain in a sympathetic (relaxed) nervous state which is optimal for learning to occur.
This week we received our delivery of Cool Conditioner Pellets and Stablisied Rice Bran from CopRice Equine which I have begun to gradually introduce into Aztecs twice daily feeding regime. Thank you to Mel at CopRice Equine for organising our delivery and keeping me up to date on its progress. I can’t wait to see how fabulous Aztec will look come Equitana. Finally, we have welcomed on board Crossroads Trading in Ballan and Opti Gut as sponsors. Crossroads Trading is my local stock feed and rural supplier who have been involved in previous Australian brumby challenges and were very keen to be involved again this year. They have kindly offered to support Aztec with chaff and supplements throughout the duration of his training period. Opti Gut is a 100% natural probiotic for horses which uses high strength multi strain microbial to assist in replenishing gut flora, reducing gastric ulcer prevalence and improving nutrient absorption. I am very humbled by, and appreciative of the support of these fantastic businesses.
Week 5
My aim from the start was to be honest and authentic in my updates and social media posts so I would not be true to myself if I didn’t highlight just how tough these last two weeks have been. Our progress continues to be slow but in the right direction and it’s hard not to compare ourselves to the other challenge participants who are achieving big milestones. This combined with illness, a sick child and some extreme answers from Aztec (striking and biting) to some of my questions have left me feeling a little beaten and doubting my ability to survive the challenge. There have been a few tears and lots of contemplative thinking and I now understand why you named it a challenge!
Aztec and I have continued to work on building his confidence accepting touch and being near people. Using a combination of face touches with my hand and the training stick, countless repetitions and rest breaks we have progressed from nose bumps to muzzle, jaw and cheek rubs with both the stick and my hand. Again, progress is slow and any attempts to move my hand further up his face has been met with rather “spicy” responses. In preparation for haltering, I have been using the training stick to attach a neck rope to Aztec and work on leading and giving to pressure. Aztec was quick to grasp these concepts and happily followed me around the yard
Due to Aztec becoming more expressive in his “no’s” and touch in close proximity still being a very difficult question I elected to halter Aztec over the fence in the yard race. In an ideal situation allowing Aztec the time it takes to be familiar with touch for haltering would be my first choice. However, given the limited time framework of the challenge and the fact Aztec has now been in yards for 5 weeks I was keen to have Aztec haltered so we can continue to build upon his leading foundation and start moving out of the yards and around the farm. Aztec is adjusting to wearing a halter well and is growing in confidence with short leading sessions over obstacles and around the horse yard area.
I am pleased to see the big changes in Aztecs body condition score as he has continued to devour all his CopRice feed. Despite the temperature struggling to get about double digits here for most of the two-week period he has managed to gain weight and is filling out nicely. Thankfully, I had my lovely warm CopRice vest to keep me warm during the blizzard like training sessions.
Week 7
Using the established track and draw from Aztecs initial trainings has enabled him to transition to leading quite well. We have been busy exploring the paddock next to the yards and heading out into the larger paddocks around the farm. During these leading adventures we have been working on Aztec developing confidence with me leading from his shoulder and continuing to build upon responding to pressure from the lead and halter. While most of our adventures have involved exploring and green picking the grass one took on some excitement when Aztec decided he wanted to explore solo. After a few laps of the paddock and some grass snacks he headed back to his yard and waited patiently for me to catch up.
In addition to leading adventures Aztec has been introduced to ponying off another horse. The trusty old rodeo head horse, Tucker, provided a calm and steady influence for Aztec during our initial ponying sessions. As on the ground, ponying reinforces the need to give to pressure and follow the leader. It also adds in another layer of stimulus with the presence of another horse and the rider now being above led horse. At any time, Aztec is free to create distance from myself as I use a 10 foot lead rope, however, I try to encourage him to work through discomfort by walking with the lead horse and gradually shortening the lead as we go. Aztec has taken confidence from Tuckers presence and is now happily trotting along beside him on a loose lead.
Having Aztec haltered has enabled me to progress with building Aztecs confidence being touched on the face and neck. Part of my initial introduction of the training stick was to teach Aztec to interact with the stick and that a purposeful nudge of the stick would indicate the need for a break. I have continued to use this and, in my videos, you will see Aztec nudge the stick during training or seek out my hand for a “fist bump” when needing reassurance. Not only does this give Aztec a voice in the training session it’s a good reminder for me to take a breath, reset and begin again. Using the training stick, initially at full length and getting progressively closer to the end I have been able to scratch his muzzle face and neck. This progressive reduction in the distance between us has allowed Aztec to build familiarity and relaxation with touch whilst remaining under his fight/flight threshold. In the past few days, I have seen Aztec grow to love the face scratches and he now actively seeks these out instead of wanting a release from pressure. This has been a long slow process with small gains each day, but I feel, and I can see the trust and relationship really beginning to grow between the two of us as we find our own rhythm and I let Aztec be involved in setting the space of our training. This has been a very important step for both of us as I have found myself trying to play catch up and pushing to achieve perceived “milestones”. I find the more I let go of my expectations and just be present for Aztec the better we are together.