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TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010

A Good Start

You know how they say that a good start is half the finish? I’m with them.

Yesterday we took Blondie, our 4-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse mare out for her first trail ride. It was her seventh time being ridden – and four of those rides happened last fall.

When we got Blondie last June, she was mostly wild – we couldn’t even catch her. It took two weeks of taking it slow and showing her people were a good thing to finally be able to halter her. But once we had earned her trust, she turned into a different horse.

For most of her life, she had been living, pretty much unhandled, on a breeding farm. But she did have one short period of incredible handling, and I believe those few days made a big difference in this horse.

As a three-year-old, Blondie participated in a clinic with Ray Hunt. And just those few days of great handling stayed with her. We noticed it as soon as we were able to halter her. She was extremely respectful of pressure – she never thought of pulling back while tied, and led like a dream.

After we’d had Blondie for two weeks and had just been able to start handling her, a young rescue horse who we’d found a home for needed to be loaded into a trailer. This youngster, Spirit, had been badly abused and I had only been able to touch him once – and now we needed to get him into a trailer!

Spirit had bonded with Blondie, and would follow her everywhere. So we haltered Blondie and led her into the trailer, which had been backed into their pasture. She was a little bit nervous of getting in, but had been taught to lead so well that within seconds she was hopping in – and Spirit followed right behind! The hard part was getting Blondie back out, but again, her respect for pressure made it a lot easier than it could have been.

When we started working with her in the round pen, Blondie was your usual green horse – worried about new things and a little anxious about what was going on. But she settled into the routine quickly and accepted new things much more easily than you would expect an unhandled horse to do.

She was like an experienced trail horse when we rode out yesterday. She had been taught to move off of pressure so well that even on her third ride this year, she was moving off the slightest suggestion from my leg. And I got to enjoy that amazing running walk!

Even though she’d hardly had any handling as a youngster, the handling that Blondie did have was excellent. She is one of those lucky horses who has never had a bad experience with people. She has so much trust and confidence in people, and that makes her very willing even when faced with new experiences. It is so wonderful to see and experience what a difference that makes in a horse.

Thank you, Ray Hunt.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 9:29 AM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: LAYING THE FOUNDATION, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP PROFESSIONALS, RAY HUNT, YOUNGSTERS