Starting Again

Phantom has developed to have a rather strange (and faulty) conformation. When moving he does not engage his hind end and he moves extremely heavy on the forehand. He is coon footed in the rear and I am trying to figure out if it can be changed with correct hoof trimming or is this perhaps DSLD/ESPA.

He drags his hind toes at the trot and as you can see from the above picture, he shows some muscle atrophe in the haunches. He has been difficult for picking up his hind feet and has been falling down  a bit in the hind end under saddle. He also has a hard time picking up the correct lead while free longing in the round pen. He either crossfires or the legs move together if I make him gallop.  Then he gets his lead figured out. OR I can fix the lead myself by stepping out in front and pushing his nose to the rail, causing his hip to come in.  Then when I let him go he canters correctly, maintaining the correct lead. He has a terrible attitude when asked to work :-)

So I was asked to keep a simple journal of his exercise program mark and his improvement. From 1 - 10.

Here goes:

December 2, 2012 Day 5 of Program

Attitude:7
Starting Effort: 5
Finishing Effort: 9
Movement Before: 5
Movement During: 8
Movement Afterward: 7
Flexibility: 6

Considering that he started out on day one trying to kick my head off because he didn't wanna and I got less than 2 seconds worth of ear pinning yesterday, I gave him a 7 on attitude. He also trotted away from me yesterday when I asked him to move so I didn't have to really BEAT (figuratively) the trot out of him. He was not going to just offer a really good effort at the trot so I had to drive him to it. At the end of our session, He just OFFERED maximum effort at the trot, powering with the hind and really lifting his shoulder so I took off all pressure immediately and left the pen and fed him right there. It was about 15 minutes work total.  He is still having a problem with leads at the canter which is concerning for as much riding as he has had over the years. Hopefully with some strengthening it will help him out. It still makes me wonder about DSLD or some neurological disconnect.

For flexibility I gave him a 6 because while he is flexible side to side he does not have much reach fore or hind. Reach improved markedly during and remained improved afterward.

Progress Through the Year

It has been quite a while since I last posted. Phantom went through typical coltish behavior- he had to put his mouth on everything and play dominance bitey games with me. He is only 2 years old now and still teething but the behavior is diminishing a great deal. First and foremost, I think that the more of an issure I make of the nipping behavior, the longer it seems to hang on and the more I work him and move his feet for nipping or simply gently pushing his head away when he goes to grab me- the quicker it goes away!

He leads up really well now and stands nicely for the farrier. I can doctor him easily and right now he has an enflamed eye from some sort of allergy (he had the same thing last Summer) and so I have to flush it daily and he has been really good with that. I've taught him to take a paste wormer by grabbing the syringe end on his own. I've taught this by filling another syringe with molasses and I give him a pea sized portion a few days a week- he really looks forward to his treat too. So, when it's time for him to take his wormer, he just takes it. Now he looks at me like I played a really dirty trick on him when he gets it BUT I always offer him the molasses he looks for after he takes his medicine and so far he has never walked away from me when I offer him a syringe. I don't halter him to doctor him or give him meds. He's proving to be very trusting of me and I always make sure I take the time it takes for him to be comfortable with what is going on.

Next lesson is to load on to a trailer! I think I'll be trying another NH method. I like the way Parelli gets horses to load by sitting down in a chair- That should keep me from moving my feet! I wish I had someone to take pictures...

Leading and Foot Handling

Well we seem to be getting along ok now and he has pretty much quit biting. I'm guessing that I'll see the behavior again given that he is such a baby but I do believe we have the respect issue pretty much worked out.

I really like the way Kitty Lauman presents teaching a horse to lead. It's very low key so it really gets right to a learning frame of mind for the horse but it's set within a framework of respect and safety for the handler. Don't get me wrong, I can indeed be a Clinton Anderson groupie but for our summers in the desert, his methods can get a horse sweated up such that they can become overheated and dehydrated quickly out here. So I will generally use Clinton's methods that require energetic exercise in the winter time. I love his Longing for Respect exercises and although they are not intended to tire a horse, sometimes they do just as a by product of moving a horse forward, backward, left and right with energy ; ) So Phantom will go through this phase of his training this Fall. Then I will work on sending/squeeze exercises and trailer loading. He should be ready to start handwalking by then too.

He is learning to let me handle his feet. Of course he doesn't like it but he also doesn't hate it or resent it so that is good. I was having a problem with him wanting to start to go down on his knee and telling him "no, stand" was getting the job done but it was suggested to me that I let him go down but don't let him loose, so I tried that as a cure. Granted, it is quite the opposite of "if you think he'll try to move in 4 seconds then let him go in 3". I'm not yet convinced that holding on to him cured him and I think I'm more likely to stay on the longer road of getting him to stand for seconds. I think my biggest problem so far in training is I'm not yet sure of myself on when to push for just a little bit more. So I push periodically just to see how it goes over. I got his front feet picked out yesterday and could tap just a bit on those fronts as well as started getting the rears picked up.

I need to push a bit- those feet are getting long and I need to take a rasp to them very soon. The ground where he is boarded is super soft so there is no natural wear from it.

From Wild to Willing...In Record Time!

Conformation Picture 6/25/06





Ok so this is a training blog but honestly the horse's personality has so much to do with how fast they tame down. All I can say is that Phantom was born confident, fearless, and fairly easy to tame. The first time I touched his tail he didn't even notice that I did anything different. He roundpens easily. He learned to give to pressure in one session. The gentling part of this has been so easy I feel like I got cheated out of adopting a wild horse!

and

He is a gregarious boy and makes some great funny faces.

I'm finding that there is a down side to all this.... He is a dominant baby who wants to call the shots and can be very pushy like many fearless babies can be. He doesn't challenge me so much because I'm the lead mare although he does try to get his nibbles in if he can sneak them in. I have not started clicker training with him or feeding him by hand so that cannot be the "blame" for him biting. Just the fact that he is a young colt is the reason he bites, or more often he tries to bite. Initially I tried to simply avoid the bite without correcting him, using the theory that if you ignore a behavior and it doesn't work for the animal that the animal will quit trying to use that behavior and it will dissappear, well that didn't work. What is working is a conditioned negative reinforcer. What that means for people not up on the animal behavior-speak is that I popped him on the nose when he tried to bite me while saying AAAAKK!! Now I don't have to pop him, just say AAAAKK!! and his head pops up and he looks at me like "I wasn't doin' nothin' mom, honest!" He is trying to bite less and less so perhaps the problem behavior will fade out.

With the fires we've been having I HAVE to teach this horse to lead and load into a trailer soon! Not to mention, his feet are getting long so he has to be taught to be trimmed. I wonder if this sweet baby will be overly resistant. He is a stinker and he knows it and I'm delighted with him.

The Phantom Comes Home

Phantom is a yearling BLM mustang out of the Seven Mile HMA in Nevada. He's the black horse in this photo. I brought him home this past Saturday, May 13, 2006.

He's a skittish little thing with very runny eyes and nose. I've been taking things real slow and pretty much letting him investigate me as he gets the courage up to do so. By Wednesday, he was playing with the apple picker and chewing on my hair! I even got to scratch his neck and pet his face. It was very windy out today so I didn't even try to get very close for scratches but he still let me pet his nose. Hopefully, tomorrow will be nicer for hanging around with a wild horse.

I can't wait to see what he looks like healthy!