Back from school!

Sport has now been back for two weeks from getting "edu-ma-cated" :-) by Jack Lieser. (The very *best* trainer in the state of Texas, and possibly in the whole Southwest US!)

Sport's been doing very well, getting used to the new/old routine with me. Unfortunately, neither of General's (RIP big guy) saddles fit Sport... Ah, the joys of going from a medium width backed horse to a narrow one! *sigh*. So I have been somewhat rushed to find something to ride him in so he doesn't "forget" what he's learned from Jack. Thankfully, my friend Lorna has a Kieffer dressage for sale that seems to fit/ work well and fits me too, so I have ridden him three times a week since he's been home. And, bonus! Both General's (RIP) dressage and jump saddles have already been sold (the jump saddle to Stephanie at Hill Country Riding Academy, which looks like a place I'd like to visit!), so I have abit of money to put down on new saddles.

I'll post more about his progress and time with Jack when I get home, as that's where all the pictures and video are!

Time flies...

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post! Where does the time go?

Nothing too exciting to report with Mr. Sport, we've been working on learning body parts and learning to "hold" (i.e. him giving me his face when asked, but then have his face stay touching my hand for 2 - 8 seconds before I release him). We've also been doing about 10 minutes of free lunging at the walk and trot to get him to better understand the voice commands of "Tee-rot!" and "Aaaand Waaa-lk" Only horse people fully understand those commands and the inflection implied! ha. :-)  And the lunging too is to get him into abit better shape before he goes to Jack Lieser's place for the month of April.

Speaking of Jack, I'm shooting his colt starting clinic this Saturday and Sunday. I'm very excited about it, not only the photography but also getting to audit Jack's work! Jack is an advocate for the Nokota horse (a rare native breed from North Dakota), so this clinic is using Nokotas only. Pretty cool!

Oh, and I got to see Robin P. a couple weeks ago at Sam Houston Race Park, as she got a race named in Jim's honor (The Jim Bausch Memorial Claiming Race (3rd race) ran on Friday February 25, 2011). A very large group of people who loved, respected and admired Jim were on hand to watch the race and then have a group photo in the winner's circle with Robin in the center holding the memorial trophy. Great to see her as always, and she's always so tickled to hear about Sport's progress, especially since I was the last private individual to buy a horse from Jim's herd.  Apparently after I bought Sport, some random man bought all of the remaining 14 horses to re-train and re-sell them separately, so Robin has no idea what has happened to them :-( 

Put your left hoof in, put your left hoof out....

Put your left hoof in and shake it all about! ;-)

Well, not quite! I should explain.

Last Saturday, my friend Sian Min of Cardinal Points Farm came by for an initial SATs session with Sport. What's SATs, you ask? A more detailed explanation can be found on the Synalia website, but basically it's the idea of naming things (objects, body parts, etc.) and then using a voice command to get the horse to move a body part, touch something etc. (remember the kids hide and seek type game Hot and Cold? "you're getting warmer" or "you're getting colder" Sorta like that...) The horse then gets verbal praise and a treat (treat use decreases after time) when he completes the task/ request. It's proven to be helpful with horses like Sport who are somewhat unconfident, by helping him become more aware of his body and of "scary" objects (tarps, cones, etc.).

So Sian Min started by teaching him "NOSE" and a few other body parts ("face" is used for his forehead, then there's "chin", "left ear", "right ear" etc.) and objects. All in all pretty cool as he started to understand that when she said "TOUCH GLOVES", he'd end up touching the gloves with his nose! Neat!

She taught him the name for another another object and started having him pick between the two objects. "Sport... TOUCH HAT" while holding in front of him a baseball cap in one hand and the gloves in the other (one object on each side of his nose) . If he got it wrong, there was no verbal praise or treat, instead "No that's gloves" with the objects being put behind her back and then re-presented with the same command.

Hmmm... so I touch my nose to your fingers when asked and I get a treat? Score!

I have been using the same SATs techniques this week to reinforce the names of the objects and body parts already learned, as well as started teaching him new body parts. He's doing pretty well, but still alittle fuzzy about "face", "chin" and both ears.

However, he learned his front feet/ legs quite quickly... To illustrate, on Wednesday I taught him "LEFT FOOT" by saying the name and then tapping his left leg (I use "foot" to mean the foot and leg) with a whip, giving verbal encouragement for even the smallest effort (i.e. shifting his weight from his left to get prepared to move his left leg), until he understood to lift or step back with his left leg. That first time asking for "left foot" went something like this:

Me: "Sport... LEFT FOOT." Then tap, tap, tap, tap, tAp, tAp, TAp, TAp, TAP, TAP (tapping to infinity it seemed! He seemed very unfazed by the firm tapping...)


Sport: "Mom, uh, why are you tapping my leg? It's getting annoying. Sigh."...

Me: "LEFT FOOT." Tap, tap, tap...

...until he moved his left leg even slightly. This all took probably less than 30 seconds in total. Then a verbal "eXcellent" with face rubbing and treat.

The second time, there was less tapping (in quantity and pressure) needed before he complied, and the tapping decreased as we progressed (about 6 times total).  That was it for the day.

Yesterday, we reviewed a couple objects and "left foot", then worked on learning "right foot". Huge difference in the speed of learning from the day before! :-) Once he learned the difference between his right and his left foot/leg, getting him to lift his right leg took much less effort on my part than had teaching him left leg the day before.

At first, it was "RIGHT FOOT", a few small taps on his right leg, but he at first lifted his left leg. "No, that's left foot. Show me RIGHT FOOT" with a few small taps, then he shifted his weight and just barely raised his right heel off the ground, so I responded "X", rub, treat! By the end of the session, I was *very* tickled when I asked for "right foot" and he lifted his right leg pretty high (similar to "striking out" but much slower and deliberate, and in no way threatening me) and slowly pawed the air. AWESOME!! It was toooo cute! Big "X", lots of rubbing and lots of treats! Done for the day! Pretty smart horse, huh? :-)

As an aside: It was also interesting to see how on the first day of naming "left foot", he'd take a step backwards versus lifting it. On the second day, it was lifting the foot only (either one) instead of taking a step back... which is fine by me since it keeps the "BACK" command separate from "foot".


And thought I'd include a cute pic of my old man *really* enjoying some soaked alfalfa cubes! Cutie pie!

What do you mean there's alfalfa on my forehead?

Tarps, schmarps!

More work today with tarps (about 20 mins.), on a slightly windy day... he was such a good boy. Though he may not be so amicable when I start to put the tarp over his body, head, etc.! ;-)

He followed me when I walked through the "chute" (note no lead rope)... I've learned that basically his philosophy is "If Mom can do IT and IT didn't kill/ eat/ maime her, then *I* can do it too! Snort!"

My normal view of Sport when I unhook his lead
so that he can roam in the roundpen (if he wants), when I adjust/move obstacles.

I still have to walk "with" him as he goes into the close ended chute (a.k.a. trailer stall),
he won't "self load" yet, but he'll get  there...

He's pretty comfortable with it all. As a matter of fact, in this pic above, there are two traffic cones on the other side of the chest "wall" to give him more of an idea of a wall (a.k.a. "stop"), since the try before this one, it was just the tarp on the temp. corral posts  creating the chest wall, no cones... and he didn't understand fully that he was *supposed* to stop, so he kept walking thorough the wall (see below) pulling out one of the temp. posts and dragging the tarp with his legs and belly. I  was very proud that he didn't freak about having the tarp drag, touch him, make loud noises as he walked through it (and all he did was walk, there was no rushing), yet alittle dismayed he didn't fully stop when I asked him to whoa! I chalk it up as a success however! :-)

The closed end of the chute after the Great Sport Walk-Through...
See below for the after of Sport realizing he's supposed to stop at the chest "wall".

"What?!? No big deal mom, really...!"
(as an aside, the short lens on the point & shoot camera makes his head look huge and body look funky! He's much better looking than this pic!)

"I shall bite the blue plastic 'wall' to let it know I mean business!"

So, Sport has not had any work for the last few days due to the cold, wet weather... but today I decided to work on getting him to go in between a tarp "wall" and the roundpen (a "chute" of sorts).  As expected, he snorted at the tarp when we walked into the roundpen, but didn't think much of it, except giving it the "hairy-eyeball" a few times when he walked near it. He was not really paying attention to me, was more concerned about where the other horses were and whinnied for them once, so we did a few easier exercises to get him focusing. We serpentined through some cones, one of which he snuffled, then bit, then knocked over with his nose... he then of course, did a soft snort then an "in-place" little spook because he made it fall over... I put the cone back up and he snuffled it again and sighed...

We then did several passes between the tarp and fence line in both directions, with the tarp about 3 - 4 ft. from the fence. (As an aside, I got the tarp to "stand up" like a wall, by using three of those plastic temporary fence rods/posts, laying the tarp over the rods and holding it in place with some bungee cords.) And then I had him back through both directions and stop while beside the tarp. It was amusing  when I'd unhook his lead so that I could readjust the tarp "wall" closer to the fence (so that it was about 2 1/2 ft from the fenceline). He's standing right there snuffling the tarp and me, nibbling grass... I had him walk in between the smaller "chute" a few times both directions, then back-up, then stop quietly.

You can see his concern in this pic... concern for grass!!

Hmmm, this sounds crinkly like a feed bag, but doesn't taste good!

I wish Sport was as quiet about other things (like going to horse shows! ahem!), but he'll get there, I hope! Next time, I'll put the tarp closer to the fenceline, wash, rinse, repeat... Then block one end of the "chute" so that he can go in, but has to back out... and then we'll work on having the tarp over parts of his body etc. I figured getting him used to the tarp first before putting it on him will help... we'll see!

You can see the utter excitement on his face in this photo. :-)

Sport's first show as a spectator

He went to his first show this past Saturday as a "spectator", and though he generally overall did well, it was a mixed bag. We parked a good distance away from the arena and warm-up areas, but he could still see all the goings-on. But, when I tried to walk him in a field near the trailer where a handful of folks were warming up,  he'd get nervous, snort, dance and leap around on the lead line as I was walking him (I used 15' lead to make sure I had safe distance as he was doing all this, but also I was able to keep a hold on him and not have him get loose!). But after a minute or two of that, he then calmly walk and then stand quietly, relax, eat grass for a few minutes, and then it was the same over and over (wash rinse repeat as they say). One upside, he didn't constantly scream... 

At one point I tied him for just a few seconds to get something out of the trailer tack area, I hear him start dancing around, and then I hear a "pop!" Uh-oh. I look around to the other side of the trailer and he's broken the bailing twine he was tied to, and he's standing there about 4 four behind the trailer just looking at me and Kidd (my friend's horse). While I'm glad he didn't run off like a banshee with it's hair on fire, I'm bummed that he was being so silly/nervous that he broke the twine because he's normally very good about his limits (i.e. when he tries to go backwards but feels the halter/lead pressure from being tide up, he stops rather than pulling harder). 

By the end of the day we put him in the trailer to wait with a haybag for the last hour or so where he could still see the arena, lights and other horses and hear the announcer, etc. He was very good while waiting, only one whinny, no pawing nor kicking, and he was munching hay after awhile (staying in the trailer was oddly a good thing for him, he seemed to feel pretty safe in the trailer) - his little brain had had *enough* of standing tied to the trailer after ~1 1/2 hours earlier in the day, so tying him there wasn't an option, especially when the only horse he knew would leave to go warm-up or whatever. *sigh* 

I feel bad because it was *way* too long of a day for his first show visit, but we had no idea it would take so long (I went with a friend who barrel races and they don't have a set time to compete, just a number, so it takes as long as it takes others to do a run, plus dragging the arena after every 50 riders... and she was # 162!!!) - we had thought we'd be gone maybe 4 hours or so, we ended up being there 6 hours... ugh. 

Chillin' at the trailer until he reached his limit...

I hope I didn't set Sport back in his training by taking him that day... I felt really disheartened on the drive home, and still feel pretty discouraged by how he'd go back and forth between nervous and relaxed. I was really hoping for more relaxation after he was there for awhile... :-(  Especially since we have been working at home to on groundwork exercises to make her more confident.  I hope he gets better as we progress, I fear he won't... I soooo wish he had some of General's confidence. *sigh*

Why you should wear your helmet and not push your horse too fast!

So, on December 16,2010, on a lovely weather day, I thought... "Sport's got such a good brain from what I've seen, I bet I could get on him just to tool around the pasture today. It's such a beautiful day."  Well, I thought to myself maybe it was abit too soon to get on him, but unfortunately pushed those thoughts to the back of my brain, and got on him anyway. Long story short, it was alittle windy, he was somewhat nervous, and after one slightly tense lap walking around the pasture, Sport had reached his comfort zone threshold and "BAM!" literally out of nowhere (besides him being alittle tense, I really had no indication of the reaction that was coming), a lightning quick rear up, followed by a solid rodeo buck! So, off I came, whacking the back of my head (with my helmet ON thankfully) and somehow tearing muscles in my ribcage underneath my left armpit. Admittedly, I deserved it as I should as listened to my inner thoughts... He ran back to the barn, and I followed slowly. I did do some groundwork with him in the roundpen before calling it quits that day, but haven't ridden him since, realizing he needs alot more groundwork, confidence-building and lunging work before I get back on. Which will be in the roundpen this time, with my new helmet on my head. *sigh*

And as embarrassed as I am to retell this story of my stupidity, I felt it was necessary to 1. Remind myself why I wear a helmet and 2. To show anyone reading this blog why it is SO important to wear your helmet since I got bucked off at the WALK. And, yes, I have a new  helmet!

Inside of the back of the helmet (about where my head hit the ground)

Outside back of the helmet

Blue tarps...

I am patiently bringing Sport along and he's doing well, we've been doing lots of groundwork and lunging (when the ground isn't too disgustingly wet!)... I have found he's very smart and sweet, but very much a "Mom's-MY-herd-member" kinda of horse, coming to me (literally!) when anything is unusual/ new/ scary etc. I joke that he should be called "SNORT!" instead of Sport, since he snorts alot at scary stuff, but then does the opposite soft snort (blowing) when he relaxes. :-) Total opposite of Mr. I'm-Awesome-and-Confident General (RIP). 

Sport needs his confidence built up (he's definitely one that needs to see/ smell/ touch scary stuff - and alot of stuff is scary right now! And he needs my reassurance/ approval for when he does something well) since he's only 6 years old, a TB AND was out in a pasture for 2 years not getting exposure to alot of different stuff... but I was SO proud of him last Sunday... 

I have blue plastic tarps for him start walking over, on, around, under etc. I started out slow, with the tarp folded up so that it was only a quarter of it's width (but normal length) on the ground, he sniffs it, but otherwise he didn't bat an eyelash as we walked over it... then I opened it up to halfway size, same reaction :-) We walked over it both directions, backed over it etc. Then I opened it up to full size and did the same, adding that he had to stand on the tarp for a bit before moving off... it was then that he reached down and bit the tarp! :-) And at one point his back foot caught the edge of the tarp as he was walking over it, so that it dragged along with his foot alittle, making good loud crinkly noises, and he didn't snort! I was so proud of him! 

As a matter of fact, I would take off his lead so he could walk to the other side of the roundpen if he wanted (gotta make due since I don't have a human helper) thinking he wouldn't like the sounds/ sights when I was unfolding and rearranging the tarp to make it bigger or flipping it over to change it from blue to gray... instead he's *right* there next me, at one point standing on the edge of the tarp, with me holding the rest of the tarp in front of him (like a wall), and all he was concerned about was getting a treat! ha! Since he's been spooky (or should I say "snort-y"?) about other less scary things (well, what I think would be less scary), I was impressed!  

We'll be moving on to walking in between two tarps (that are hung up to make walls) this week, gradually decreasing the space between them until he can't go past the blue "walls" (with the tarps in a "v" shape) but has to back out, then adding having to walk under the tarp (though not sure how I will accomplish that since I can tie the tarp to only one side and have no one to hold up the other side... hmmm... any suggestions on how to accomplish that?!?) 

The importance of good fencing...

I went out Friday Dec. 10 after work and as I drove down the driveway, I noticed Snapper was chowing down at the round bale, but Sport was hanging out quite far away from Snapper, facing the fence and facing away from Snapper (they are good buddies, so they generally hang out fairly near each other). As I walk up, Snapper eagerly greeted me, snuffling for treats, but Sport stayed where he was... Hmmm... VERY unusual, as Sport almost always comes up to greet me too (sometimes he'll even trot over!). I looked over and called his name, but Sport just looked over his right shoulder at me as I call, then looked at me over his left shoulder, but didn't turn around to meet me or move much else besides his head/neck... UH OH!

So, I walked over to Sport, talking calmly, asking him what's wrong, what'd he get himself into, etc. I get closer and realize that Sport had BOTH front feet on the wrong side of the bottom fence wire (the fence is a smooth wire post and rail)! Gack!! Both front feet were outside the pasture, while the rest of him is inside! He was standing there patiently, waiting... The wire was somewhat slack, not super tight... So, I carefully picked up his left front foot and put it back inside the pasture where it belonged... he stood quietly as I walked around his backside and then picked up his right front foot and put it back inside the pasture too... He looked at me, put his head down, let me rub his forehead and in between his ears for a short bit, licked his lips, then turned around and walked back towards Snapper... As he walked away, Sport gave a few "tension" snorts a few times, as if to say "that was scary!"  

I can't tell you how proud I was/am of my fairly calm, good-brained Sport! But felt abit chagrined that he got himself in that trouble in the first place! :-) He's perfectly fine, by the way, no cuts, no scrapes, no swellings... we even had a light lunging session afterwards (where there was a small buck and a few "woohoo" leaps!) and he was completely sound and normal.

Oh, and I should add that the fence DOES have a hot wire to keep Sport from grabbing the best grass on the other side of the fence (which is how that day's incident happened I'm fairly sure), but the hot wire had been broken the last week or so... but it was fixed that weekend (as well as tightening of the fence wire).

Big *sigh* of relief from this horse owner! 

Introduction

I decided to keep this blog as a diary of my training adventures of my young gelding. It's really just for me to document our progress, but if you enjoy reading it too then that's a bonus! :-) And I welcome comments, suggestions, advice. Thanks.

Alittle information about us:

Me: I have been riding since I was six years old, my dad having owned a racehorse training and breeding farm outside Houston, TX. Horses are a huge part of my life, especially Thoroughbreds (TB). I started riding on a Shetland named Susie, then a lovely reliable former cutting Quarter Horse named Johnny. I learned alot from both and they both took good care of me.

Snapper: I still have my first off-track TB (OTTB), the adorably sweet Snapper (River Rat Ronald - ridiculous name, I know! What *was* my dad thinking?! - a 1983 TB gelding by Umin out of The Madam). He and I have been partners since I was thirteen years old and he was three, but we've know each other all our lives. Snapper was a baby by our stallion and out of our mare, so I have known Snapper since he was born. I have a picture of me at age 10 scratching his nose before he was weaned from his momma! (Makes me feel old!)

Did you bring a treat?

He's now a healthy, somewhat more opinionated (ahem), 28 years old! He's my sweet boy. We experienced alot together (trail riding, hunter/jumper, dressage, Eventing, foxhunting, even a hunter pace) and he taught (and still teaches) me so much. I hope he'll be around until age 30 at least!

General: My second OTTB was General (General Commander - a Louisiana bred 2000 TB gelding by Deputy Commander out of Miss Lion King), a great horse who came into my life in 2007, right when I needed him. Handsome, confident, sweet, always on the "lookout"... He was such a *good* boy. We had so much fun and learning for the three years we were together, until unfortunately I lost him to a badly twisted gut in February 2010. I still miss him often. RIP big guy.

Gen and me schooling at Pine Hill 

Devastated and heartbroken at losing Gen, I took my time looking for another horse. And though I am open to other breeds, I was still drawn to OTTBs. About nine months later, I found Sport through a friend who sent me to Robin P. (a racehorse trainer), whom I also know from my part-time work at Sam Houston Race Park. Sport became mine the end of October.

Sport: A 2004 Texas bred TB gelding by Orbit's Revenge out of Sports Prospector. Sport had been owned by my friend Jim B., who had passed away. Robin was his longtime partner in life and work. Sport only raced five times, never in the money, but then was put out on pasture with all of Jim's other horses for two years due to a "custody battle" of sorts between Robin and Jim's son after Jim's death.  There was a deal of sorts worked out with Jim's son, Robin, the lawyers etc. that the sale of the horse had to be approved by all parties involved, so it took a nerve wracking ten days to find out if I could take Sport home. Luckily, all went well and I took Sport home for the princely sum of $300! (Robin was pricing the horses just high enough to keep them off the truck to Mexico…)

In honor of Jim, when I start to show and event Sport, he will show under the name “JB Sport's Revenge”. I hope to make you proud Jim. :-)

Sport's first full day at his new home