A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Third Foal Crop Part 3

Part One of the Baby Boomer Series

The Third Foal Crop Part 1

It wasn't until it came time to put the Arabian horse and her new foal out for the first time, that I even realized that I had a problem. The mare wanted to run, glad to finally be outside. The colt, following his instinct wanted to run right at the mare's hip. Aana didn't know what to think of that thing running next to her and the mare began kicking at her colt.

Fortunately, the horse was easy to catch and we were able to put a stop to the behavior before the colt was hurt. But it was clear, the mare had perceived the colt as a predator and had tried to defend herself from her own baby. This was a big problem.

Talking to my vet, his idea was to sedate her. He wasn't going to be in the area anytime soon so I decided to ask the vet who was coming to my work for drugs. In the meantime the mare and foal would have to stay inside the stall where the foal was safe.

The old Indian vet (I can say that, it is how he refers to himself!!) didn't think that drugs were the answer. The problem was the sedation would not last long. Once it wore off the foal would again be vulnerable to attacks by the mare. This vet is quite a hand with natural horsemanship. He thought I should hobble the mare. It was his prediction that hobbling the mare would result in the mare bonding with the foal and ending the problem.

So the next step was getting hobbles. Eric Krichten (my boss) asked the OIV if hock hobbles would do the job. The response was any kind of hobbles would do. So Eric borrowed a set of hock hobbles for me to try on the mare.

If you never seen hock hobbles, they're a rather interesting device designed to help the horse get underneath itself better, or so they say. I think they cause a horse to move mechanically and I think they can be dangerous if not used correctly. They aren't in my training bag of tricks.

Hock hobbles consist of two leather devices with straps that enclose around the hock. The straps fasten above and below the hocks in the back. Each has a ring attached at the front of the hock. Then there is a cord with snaps at both ends that runs from the ring at one hock, up and through the bottom ring on a sircingle and back to the ring on the other hock. The length of that cord can be adjusted.

I put the surcingle on Aana and the hock hobbles at first by themselves and I walked her around at bit for her to get used to the feel. Then I attached the cord leaving it long so it didn't restrict her movement at all. Once she was used to that I shortened up the cord in increments so that the mare could gradually get used to being confined. The final degree of tightness allowed the mare to move, even run but she was unable to kick. If she tried to kick, the cord would put pressure on the other hock forcing her to move forward instead of kick.

Once it was all set up and I was sure that the mare could not kick at her foal, we turned the mare and foal loose. They ran off with the mare a bit stiff legged but there was no kicking.

Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue, but the mare thought the colt had something to do with her not being able to kick at him. By the time we brought them both in, she not only wasn't kicking him anymore, she had accepted him as part of her "herd."

I put the contraption on the mare again the next day just to be on the safe side. Even though the old Indian vet was convinced the mare would now be subservient to the foal, I wasn't taking any chances. But that was it for me, two days of turnout with the hock hobbles and Aana's first foal was now safe and Aana was figuring out what it was like to be a mother.

The only problem was that this colt had the first few days of his life without motherly reassurance. His first reaction to new scary things has always been that "Blahhhhhhhhhh!" climbing the wall reaction. Once he is reassured, he settles down immediately but I can't help but wonder had his mother bonded with him in the beginning if he wouldn't have turned out just as confident as the other Leg's babies.

To be continued.........

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of this. And sadly, I didn't take many pictures of these foals. With my loss of Image, my head really wasn't into babies. This is the one an only year I took few baby pictures.

The Third Foal Crop - Part 4


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Clacking Teeth or Flehmen Response - Maybe Both!

OK, I should never blog when I'm tired or sick and last night I was both so I apologize for any confusion. Dressagemom didn't comment about the flehmen response specifically, she was remarking about the teeth clacking that babies do which she reminded me of this morning

but somehow I got fixated on the flehmen response part of the new foal's behavior and left off the teeth clacking.

Foals will normally do both the clacking of teeth followed by the flehmen response during their initial contact with another horse. One of the comments reminded me of this. Lady of Chaos mentioned the purpose of the flehmen in this case is to imprint the scent of the new horse to memory which makes sense, I just hadn't really thought about it in that context.

As soon as those first comments came through last night, I realized what I had done. My instinct was to fix it on the spot, but I just figured I'd make a bigger mess. So instead I headed off to bed hoping I'd feel better in the morning and my head would clear around this whole subject.

It's probably a good bet that I shouldn't be working with horses either when I'm tired and not feeling well. If I get confused and turned around blogging, what kind of mistakes could I be making working with the horses. It's a good thing that they are so forgiving.

Yesterday I addressed the flehmen response so today I'll cover the teeth clacking. Why do baby horses clack their teeth?


Watching my herd I see the foal (or young horse sometimes) will lower the position of its head and neck almost like they are stooping down while clacking their teeth together. If you watch their eyes closely, you will see the foal glance away from the horse they are directing the gesture towards and glance back to see if the horse is accepting the gesture. Their eyes will continue to glance back and forth until the gesture has either been accepted or rejected.

This behavior can be seen as well in some older horses. Whether a horse is new to a herd or a young stallion learning to breed, teeth clacking can be seen usually followed by the flehmen response. The flehmen response however is not always precluded by teeth clacking.

If the teeth clacking gesture is rejected, the approached horse will throw its head up high in an aggressive manner and sometimes even shake its head or exhibit other signs of "I am the boss" behavior. Depending on how this horse sees the threat, sometimes it will even scream.

At the first signs of rejection, the foal will flee with its tail between its legs. Usually running for the comfort and protection of its mother. If this happens to a youngster that has been weaned, it will seek some form of refuge whether it's dodging behind a tree or seeking its companions. You can bet it will run as far away as it can get from the rejecting authority. An older horse will usually back away slowly. Only turning to leave when it feels it is safe to turn tail and run.

If the teeth clacking gesture is accepted, the approached horse will drop its head down to the level of the foal. Its eye will soften. Sometimes it will take a small step forward or reach forward gently with its muzzle, an invitation for the gesturing horse to approach.

Depending upon the youngster's intent in the first place, you may see the young horse approach or just walk through the space of the other horse. If the youngsters intent was to get acquainted, you will see the youngster slowly approach the horse it directed the gesture towards in the first place. The foal will continue to watch the horse it is approaching, lowering its eyes and retaining its submissive posture until it is within the range it is seeking trying to make friends.



I see this a lot with my foals and my stallion. His stall is open at the top so he can reach over the wall and visit with his mares and their foals. A new foal will approach Legs slowly with clacking teeth but once they are sure that Legs is open to contact, they pop right up into their normal posture. The next thing you know the darn colts are face boxing with their dad. The fillies on the other hand like to rub their faces up against his face and neck and groom on him while he caresses them in return.

It is important to note here that not all foals are brave enough to visit with their dad. Some it takes a while to work up the courage and others never do. I will see the more timid foals standing off a ways studying the stallion. They will spend a part of each day standing there studying him. Some will gradually shorten that distance until they work up the nerve to visit. While others will never shorten the distance at all, but be content to visit from afar.

Only if the mare comes to visit the stallion will a very timid foal get near the stallion at all. Even then that foal will be sure to keep its mother between itself and Legs. Actually pushing into the mare for comfort. I have seen those very timid foals, however, reach underneath their mother's neck and steal a brief peek at the horse a time or two.

I could spend all day studying the behavior or foals. The foal in the picture is Andy (Scandalous Addiction). He is the bravest foal I have ever seen. Somehow at two days old he and his mom got out of there stall and Andy was found in the morning up visiting with his dad, nuzzling him and biting him, no less!



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So What about that Foal Curling Up Its Lip - Submission?

In the comments on Submission to Leadership in Arabian Horses a question was raised by dressagemom was reminded of behavior she had seen in a foal.

Once again, it opened up a discussion about submission. With most believing the action of a horse lifting it head, curling its upper lip, exposing its teeth in the process is a sign of submission of some kind. Notablogger referred to it as "baby mouth" and stated she had seen youngsters as old as two engage in this behavior. Others who had seen it as well, also stated that they had only observed it in young horses, mostly foals.

While I have always been told it has something to do with submission as well, that's never quite made sense to me. I see it in breeding as well as foals, broodmares, all horses in my herd. I've seen broodmares smell the urine of other mares in heat. I've seen horses do it at new food. I've seen yearlings stop running in the field and do it.

It is a common sight to see Legs when I am teasing a mare in heat, turn his lip upside down that way raising his head to the sky. While it's not a pretty picture, he is definitely thinking. You can see his wheels turning.

I have been unable to detect a pattern between doing it with mares that are ready to breed and ones that are not ready. He doesn't do it every time I tease but he does it to mares in both categories. If he just did it with a mare that was not ready to breed that would make sense as a sign of submission. He could be accepting the fact the mare is not ready. However, I have seen him do it with a mare that we bred that day after he did it. Then she went out of heat the next and settled a foal. The only submitting that was going on was on the mare's part, I can assure you.

I happen to know this phenomenon is called the flehmen response. Don't ask me why I remembered that, because I'm terrible with names but this one stuck in my head. So I went to the search engines to see what I could find.

They like us were all over the place. I found several different explanations, some even about submission but most seemed to suggest that the response is totally about smell.

equine flehmen response

horse smell

The role of the Flehmen Response in the behavioral repertoire of the stallion.

All have some sort of indication that smell is the basis for this response.

One link I found even suggested that the curling of the lip allows the horse to push the scent up into the nostril for a better, well, whiff! Flehmen Response in Horses I can say that this makes the most sense to me. From what I can observe with Legs, he is making a decision right after he has executed the Flehmen Response. Sometimes he clearly tells me we should be breeding this mare. Other times, he walks away.

The most interesting part to me was that people seemed to be all over the place. Some believed like those here, that it happens only in foals. Others believed it happens only in the breeding process. While others believed it was really particular to males.

Just like many of the other things about what goes on in a horse's head, I think that there are lots of opinions but not really any firm conclusions. For me, I'm going to stick with it has to do with helping the horse to smell a specific thing more effectively. That seems to be the only one that fits the numerous episodes that I have seen.

The picture above is Scandalous Dare. I didn't have a picture of the response itself, but this horse as a foal showed me it more times than any other foal I've had, so when I think about it in baby horses, I laughingly think of Dare.

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Even More on Submission to Leadership in Arabian Horses

With the comments coming in on More on Submission to Leadership in Arabian Horses it is clear that I was on spot about Ruby. The added history by Ro in those comments confirms that the mare had very little training. I would think from her behavior that what training she did have did NOT deal with issues of complete submission.

Well, maybe I should correct that statement to include the word trust as mentioned by Marvel of Simply Marvelous The whole concept of submission with trust is the basis for what most would call natural horsemanship. Many trainers haven't got a clue how it all fits together and do nothing to instill it in the horse. If the horse walks, trots and canters both directions, it is broke to such trainers despite the fact it walks all over it's owners.

I remember my first seminar with John Lyons sitting there enthralled throughout his demonstration of Round Pen Reasoning. At the break I came across several well known principles from our local Arabian horse community who wrote it off as nothing more than a circus act. I remember shaking my head (internally, at the time) at their ignorance.

I went home after that evening session followed by a weekend seminar and a week of observing at his clinic with enough knowledge to fix a major issue on each horse I owned at that time. I also gave round pen reasoning a try of my own. It may have taken me four times as long to get my gelding, Mark, fixed on me than it did John Lyons but I did manage to get it done. I learned some important lessons in the process.

If a horse submits to you during a training session, it is only to you on this given day under this given set of circumstances. IF those circumstances should happen to be meet again and again, you just might get a trained horse out of it. A "trained horse" meaning one who submits to you under these circumstances. If you should manage to get another human involved who can duplicate your cues and timing etc, the horse will easily respond to that second individual as well having learned already that such behavior from a human constitutes leadership for that task.

If you manage to tie enough different sets of circumstances together AND, of course, get them all repeated often enough to convince the horse that it is "trained" on each issue, you might just end up with a totally submissive horse. After all, totally submission only comes if the horse truly believes that you ARE the one and only true leader. The more different issues you prove to your horse you are the one in charge, the more likely your horse is to buy that you really are a leader, even THE leader he listens to when his life is in jeopardy.

So, should some other person happen to come along using the same set of cues for the same set of requests, have the correct timing etc that the horse requires to see leadership, that person too will be above the horse in the pecking order. The horse's life experience with repeated exposure to leadership humans convinces the horse to submit to any and ALL people, or so it seems. I'm sure you've seen horses who are submissive even to small children as a perfect example of a totally submissive horse.

Pecking order comes into play as well in this whole scenario. For the horse it's not just about that top position but all of the positions in the herd. Each horse must hold a slot and that slot must be clear to all members of the herd. A horse who has recently moved up in status in the herd might also decide to try and move up on his human leader as well.

Also those positions in the herd can chance at the drop of a hat by adding or removing an individual from the herd. Sometimes a horse doesn't have to be removed for it's status to change. Health issues and affiliations with other herd members can change status as well.

For an example of changing status in a herd let's look at my mare. Heiress has always been low on the pecking order in my herd (until the addition of a new mare), but when the horse is pregnant or has a foal at her side, her ranking has changed. Because of her instinct to protect her baby at all cost, she stands up to mares she would normally submit to. And those mares also have their instinct telling them that foal is to be protected so they stand down from their usual dominant role. Once her foal is weaned, Heiress returns to her usual role in the herd.

It would also be important to know in this context that the new mare that I added to my herd was in foal at the time she came here. Because she was in foal to a horse outside our system, the mare was perceived as a threat by this herd. Their instincts told them to fight off the new mare.

In the wild a pregnant mare would only join a new herd if she was stolen by the herd sire or if the stallion from her herd was defeated. In that case all of the pregnant mares would be raped by the new stallion so they would abort. The experts believe that is Mother Nature's was of guaranteeing survival of the fittest. If the stallion who sired the foal couldn't hold the mare, he was a lessor horse and his progeny should also be lessor individuals. The sad but brutal truths of equine instincts.




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A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Maiden Season Part 5

Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Part 1 of the Maiden Season


When Nick came running in screaming that Kurra was killing Heiress I was in the house putting away the items from the store, I hadn't noticed on my way in that Dave had turned Kurra out with Kurra. After all, he and Lindsay had both been given strict instructions that Kurra was to go out in the small field alone. Panic stricken I raced outside to see if I could intervene with the Arabian horses.

There in the near corner of the field was Kurra kicking the daylights out of the bay mare,Heiress. The dumb bay mare just stood there, almost like she was in a trance. She didn't kick back, she didn't gesture, she just stood there.

Kurra stopped kicking briefly giving Heiress a chance to go away but dumb Heiress just didn't get it. Kurra was outraged at the bay mare's obvious disregard for her authority. The red mare flattened her ears even tighter and threaten the bay mare again. She wanted Heiress gone.

When the bay horse didn't take the hint and move off, Kurra wheeled around and resumed kicking. Heiress's only response was to try and come up and nudge the angry mare. I could tell from her body language what she was thinking,
"Hey, don't you want to be my friend?"
Heiress, obviously was still not getting the message and Kurra was not amused! I couldn't get to the bay mare fast enough to intervene.

The next assualt the red mare lunged at Heiress with her teeth bared. She intended to attack Heiress the same way that the gelding had attacked Scandalous, killing her. My heart stopped but my feet were still moving racing over to break up the two horses..

But the sound of that blood curdling scream and the sight of the red mare charging so ferociously at her were enough for even Heiress to get the picture.. She finally took off running for those parts unknown that Kurra intended to be Heiress's new residence. With Heiress exiting the scene, Kurra stopped in her tracks.

She didn't want to kill the mare only to get the horse to leave her alone so she could graze in peace. She immediately dropped her head and set about munching grass not even bothering to watch Heiress's exit.

Once the frightened bay mare reached the far end of the field she turned and faced the red horse. The mare was shaking from head to toe. I could almost see her as she dropped her head and nodded in Kurr'a direction,asking
"Is this far enough?"
Kurra looked up briefly and then dropped her head again to graze not even bothering a response for the ingrate mare at the far end of the field. Heiress stood there quaking needing some kind of reassurance that the attack was indeed over. The only reassurance she would get was from me.

I checked the horse over carefully for the damage I thought must be there. The attack looked so ferocious that I couldn't imagine I didn't need to call a vet. Thankfully, Heiress didn't look too much the worse for wear. She did have a few bites and some lumps but nothing as bad as I'd expected.

Knowing how dense this mare could get about learning any lesson, I knew she could have been seriously injured. As it was, the biggest injury seemed to be to her pride. Not that that was a bad thing, she'd needed that pride knocked down a peg or two or three.

Kurra on the other hand, didn't have a scratch, not a mark anywhere. The dumb bay mare had never tried to fight with Kurra, she just wouldn't respect her space. I imagine before I got home, that Kurra had tried more subtle forms of getting Heiress to leave her alone. But with Heiress not understanding anything about herd dynamics she just hadn't taken the hint.

Most of the horse's injuries weren't even visible in a day or two. The only ones that remained were two bald hoof prints, one planted on each cheek on her butt. I swear, just like the horse in the cartoons, Heiress had a hoof print on each cheek. But the hoof prints that were left in her mind, those were the important ones. A new dawn of understanding rose with the attack by Kurra that day. Heiress finally understood about pecking order.

This probably sounds like an odd thing to say but I will always be grateful to Kurra for the events of that day. I had spent many hours working with Heiress trying to get her to understand that I was the one in charge. While I was making progress it was slow and usually costly to my person in some way. Kurra's education of Heiress that day changed all of that.

To be continued.........

Part 6

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A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Maiden Season Part 4

Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Part 1 of the Maiden Season

By Monday, Kurra, the Gamaar bred mare was no longer showing any signs of heat. I ,for one, was hoping for a one cover pregnancy. While I knew the young stallion wouldn't get a lot of practice that way, I was still rooting for no more breeding than absolutely necessary. The whole experience had convinced me of something I was pretty sure of in the first place, MARES are my thing!!

It's probably safe to say the whole time I was thinking this, I was NOT considering the fact the next horse to breed was herself a maiden. Not only was this mare a maiden BUT she was the mare from the farm down the road.

The mare who had lived her life up to the time I bought her in a stall. The mare who had bit me, kicked me and knocked me senseless nearly getting me killed the first month I owned her. This was the mare who had never been socialized with other horses. This was the mare I had bought to breed to this stallion before he was even born. Even the vet was worried about breeding this mare. I mean, how bad could it be?

Once I really began to think about the prospects of breeding Krugorrs Heiress, I began to see the error of my thinking. It would definitely have been a good idea to have had the young stallion have all of the experience he could before we had to deal with the mare. It was difficult enough dealing with a stallion who didn't know what he was doing without adding the mare who was so unpredictable and could be so dangerous.

While the mare's behavior had come a long way in these two years since I'd purchased her, there was still so much unknown about her and her behavior. Each new experience seemed to be meet with so much fear and so little reason, I just didn't have a clue what to expect from her when it came to breeding. I was really hoping I hadn't bitten off more than I could chew.

For now, all I could do about this situation was worry. Heiress was not currently in heat. I did decide that I would spend some more time doing a refresher course on her leading skills before the big event. Making sure she had a firm understanding of "Whoa!" would be important as well.

In the meantime, life on our farm was pretty much going along as usual except for the addition of Kurra to our herd. The mare had been the head mare in a herd of over twenty horses. Jodee had warned us against turning her out with any other horses and I pretty much agreed.

Kurra, however, was feeling deprived being turned out in a small field by herself. The mare spent a good portion of her time standing at the fence line watching the other mares and crying. Knowing how crabby this mare could be, I just let her cry. I really didn't want to see what might happen if any of my mares crossed her. I knew from Jodee's accounts that Kurra didn't take hostages, she intended for her victims to leave for parts unknown.

Dave on the other hand couldn't be bothered by such things as owners concerns about their horses doing damage to our horses. He was preoccupied with feeling sorry for the lonely mare. So while I was gone to the store, he decided to turn Kurra out with the other mares.

Lilly had lived in a big herd. She understood what it meant when the boss mare said get out of my way. She also understood in just one glance that Kurra was the boss mare. If Kurra looked her direction, Lilly knew to do as she was told.

Heiress on the other hand had no experience with a true herd situation. Her only experience being turned out with other horses had been Scandalous who had taken pity on the poor filly. While Scandalous had not let Heiress get away with being totally obnoxious, she had not taught the filly how to survive in a herd.

Once Lilly came to live at our farm, she became Heiress's new pasture mate. Lilly was younger and used to being pushed around. She had no idea that Heiress didn't really understand about being in a herd or she probably would have taken her on. Instead she did nothing to challenge the mare or to set Heiress straight.

The very thought of Dave turning Kurra out with Heiress anywhere near her was enough to scare me silly. I believed that Kurra wouldn't tolerate any of Heiress's stupid behavior and I was right. Once Heiress and Kurra were in the same field it was only a matter of minutes before the fight began.

To be continued.........

Part 5

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When Do Colts Begin to Act Like Breeding Horses?

This questions shows up pretty regularly in the source of viewers for my blog. I always laugh when I see or hear it probably because my colts come out this way. They know from the time they are born that they are boys and they're trolling for girls.

However, that is not the norm. Actually, I'm not really sure there is an actual norm. Each colt is an individual and will reflect his own genetic code for virility and potency. With that being said, many colts are not born with both testicles down and obvious testosterone driven behavior. Some are born with one or two testicles up inside the body cavity while others may have then down at birth only to retract their testicles inside shortly after birth.

It is not unusual to have a colt go for over a year without having the testicles descend down into the scrotal sack. Usually if both testicles have not descended by the age of two the horse is considered to be a mono or cryptorchid. _Equine/cryptorchid_horse.htm

Even without the testicles down, colts can and do display varying degrees of hormonal behavior from birth. Colts as yearlings are known to display stallion type behavior, experimenting with teasing and mounting mares. Many an unwanted pregnancy has resulted from leaving yearling colts with testicles still up in the body cavity pastured with mares.

Usually the earliest point at which an owner might decide to begin breeding with a young horse is at the age of two. While two year old colts are capable of breeding many will exhibit submissive behavior. Some will not have the confidence to initiate breeding even with patience and understanding on the part of handlers.

There is a school of thought that believes breeding with two-year-olds is asking for behavior problems. Some believe that it's ok as long as the horse doesn't do live cover. While others believe that starting a young horse off collecting semen can result in loss of interest as the horse matures.

Usually by three years of age most young stallions express an outward interest in mares. Many are willing to breed mares once they begin showing those outward signs. Some will show some signs of stress at the prospect of breeding and exhibit submissive behavior but usually that is easily overcome.

The day this question showed up in my viewers log a three month old colt here was displaying some pretty active stud like behavior. My herd sire can hang his head over the wall of his stall and visit with the mares. The colt, Andy, was getting in between Legs and whatever mare was trying to visit with him. (In the picture above, Andy is standing right by a pool of urine left by a mare in heat, it's not conicidence that he's there.)

Fortunately, Legs really likes Andy so the colt wedging himself in between any of Leg's mares didn't infuriate the stallion but he did nip the colt hard enough to send him off. However, Andy didn't stay gone for long. The colt would scoot off just out of range, shake his head at his dad and then make another pass back in between the mare and his dad.

The stallion's stall is on the corner of the barn and there is a gate right there on the corner. Mares also come right up into that corner to talk with Legs. On this particular day, there were three mares in heat in that field all vying for attention in the corner.

Probably the furthest in heat was Solidare. She is the boss mare and kept the other mares back away from the stallion while she played kissy face with him. The colt was right there on the other side of the gate but out of reach of the stallion. He was talking to the mare, nibbling on her neck, dropped, erect and dripping fluid.

I went over and pushed him away from the mare. I knew he'd be mad but it's a lot easier to begin teaching a colt who's in charge of breeding at that age than actual breeding age. I wanted him to know I can push him off a mare any time I want to and he has to deal with it.

The colt ran off but kicked out at me and then tried to charge me. He's small enough that me charging back is enough to intimidate him. He continued to try and find a way around me to visit with the mare and I continued to drive him off until he finally went off grazing with his mother.

As soon as I left, he went straight back up to the gate calling to the mare. I waited for her to come up and let him get chummy with her before I chased him off again. We repeated this dance several times. The reason I spent my time and energy in this game is I want this colt to understand that he must tolerate me pushing him off of a mare without challenging me. That way in the future when (not if) a breeding wreck might happen, I will have a co-operative stallion.

Some people are bothered by colts acting studdy at this young an age. I appreciate it because it gives me the opportunity to school when the colt is small and manageable. I also know that colts that have this much testosterone are fertile active breeding horses with long breeding careers.
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Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse - Riding the Stallion

Part 1 of Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse

I had warmed the Arabian stallion, Scandalous Legacy up first for my granddaughter, Rachel. I had one instance of the horse talking to the other stallions at the far end of the barn, but had been able to quell the behavior immediately. Now it was Rachel's turn to ride.

Rachel has never ridden a stallion before. I was not concerned about her riding this one because he is a good boy. The horse seems to know when there is someone inexperienced on his back and knows to take care of them. So I knew he would be good for Rachel to ride while the Arabian gelding was recuperating from his fall. (For the story about his fall begin here)

We adjusted the stirrups while Rachel got her helmet. Then I put her up onto the stallion. I told her to move him off of her legs, just like she would do with Dandy, and put him through the warm-up drill so they could get used to each other.

You could see by the expression on the horse's face that he was listening to Rachel closely. The difference between her use of the aids and mine was enough to have him concentrating so he didn't miss a cue. They executed some leg yields and some small figure eights before it was time to send them off to the rail.

It was clear once they were on the straight that Rachel was having some problems keeping her body straight. The horse was like a crystal ball into her riding technique. He was so responsive that each little error showed. The stallion had his head slightly cocked towards the wall and was dropping his inside hip even farther to the inside.

It took quite a while for Rachel to get figured out what she was doing incorrectly. With her dyslexia sometimes she has more problems than others and this was definitely one of her problem days. She was doing the opposite of what she was being instructed to do. She needed to shorten up on her outside rein and bring her outside shoulder back/ Repeatedly she shortened the inside rein and while she did bring the correct shoulder back she somehow rotated her pelvis to do it, which only threw the horse off more.

While it was frustrating to watch and probably even more frustrating for her to ride, she was not off enough to cause a real problem for the horse. Since Legs was not fit, a dramatic error like that ridden for any length of time would have made the horse sore. Crystal made sure to take lots of breaks letting the horse stretch out so that he wasn't any the worse for wear at the end of this lesson.

As Rachel struggled to get her body position fixed, Legs struggled with ignoring the stallions at the far end of the arena. The horse was good the first few laps but finally both of the stallions challenged him with a deafening scream as Rachel and Legs came into the corner. Legs couldn't resist the temptation and let out an answering challenge raising up out of the bridle.

Rachel did a good job with him. She didn't get rattled at all and picked up on him, pushing him forward with her legs and scolding him with her voice. The horse immediately rolled back over into the bridle and went on like nothing had happened. But it didn't stop there.

Several more times at different points during the ride, Legs tried to talk to the other stallions. While Rachel was correcting him, she was catching him just a little late. Like all horses, Legs saw the little bit of opening and used it. He didn't do anything unsafe for Rachel but I was concerned about him learning that he could talk with Rachel on his back. That was not a good precedence to to setting with a stallion, no matter how well behaved.

Crystal and Colleen with both impressed with how well Rachel was doing handling riding the stallion. By the end of the ride she also had figured out her body position and they were travelling straight down the rail.

But I was concerned. I knew that under normal circumstances Legs would never talk like that under saddle and I didn't want to see this behavior re-enforced. There was also the issue of Rachel not caring for the other two horses the way she was supposed to. Grandma was going to do some thinking and then make another change in the plans.

I did speak with Rachel and Colleen both before I left letting them know how disappointed I was. To find that Scandalous Hope was not being worked was something I had not expected to have happen with Rachel. But it had and I was going to deal with it. I also was going to figure out what to do about the talking stallion. There was no room for that kind of behavior in the plans for Rachel. Grandma and an Arabian horse.


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Does Your Horse Know How to Be Trapped? Part 3

Part One

A totally untrained horse, I will do the giving to pressure exercise using the rope halter just like I described in yesterdays post. Once I have the horse dropping it's head to whatever height I want and also giving to pressure to both sides including taking steps if asked, then I will use a simple sacking out exercise.

I'll tie the horse to an arena wall or a strong post along a fence line using a longer lead usually about 15 foot rope. I will tie the rope high enough that the horse can't get tangled in it when the horse gives to pressure and there is slack in the rope.

If the horse is not comfortable being tied in this location, I will just lope the rope either through a ring (if available) or around the post hanging onto the other end. Whenever the horse puts pressure on the lead, I will apply pressure to the horse's hip (only using enough pressure to get the horse to move, not enough to freak the horse out) to encourage it to go forward so the horse moving forward releases the tension on the rope.

By hanging on to the other end of the rope, I can adjust the rope to avoid a wreck without giving the horse a release. I only want the horse to get a release when it has moved forward. Once the horse begins to move forward, I will remove the pressure at the horse's hip and praise and pet the horse. I am working towards the horse moving off the pressure at its hip but also looking for it reacting to pressure on it's poll by dropping its head always remembering to praise and pet the horse when it gives to either pressure. I will continue working on this process until the horse stands with its head low and soft showing it is comfortable with being tied.

When the horse can be safely tied, I will increase the pressure that I am directing towards the horse's hip by taking a whip with a plastic bag tied to the end or something else the horse might be afraid of. I will only get close enough to the horse with the scary object to put subtle pressure on the horse. Again it is important not to apply too much pressure and freak the horse out. The idea is to gradually build up the horse's confidence in dealing with scary things by giving to pressure and standing quietly.

I will continue just like I did before, increasing the pressure only enough to move the horse forward. If the horse moves off the pressure on it's hip but doesn't soften at the poll (drop its head - even just a little) I will keep the pressure on waiting for the soften as well as moving forward. If the horse gets confused and shows anxiety, I'll back it off a little by just asking for the movement of the horse's feet until it's get comfortable with that and then add the additional request of softening at the poll.

I continue in this manner gradually building up moving closer and closer to the horse as its comfort level allows. My goal is to get to the point I have the horse standing quietly while I run the scary object all over the horse's entire body, legs, face, etc. At any point the horse becomes anxious I back off to where the horse is comfortable and build from there.

I do this exercises on all of my horses as part of my basic ground work before starting them under saddle. The mare pictured had this done before she was started under saddle but when she moved to the new barn, her stress level went up so I redid the "trapped" exercises this time under saddle to re-enforce the original training.

Anytime I see evidence that a horse is outside its comfort zone, I will return to the basics, dropping its head, giving to pressure and softening and standing even though frightened. The end result is horses that are able to listen for instruction when they are frightened and horses that know how to be still when they are trapped.

Currently I have a new gelding with complications from his surgery who is standing quietly for flushing by the vet and while I administer hot packs. Even though the horse is frightened and hurting, he knows to stand quiet. This has not only made treatment easier for us but easier on the horse as well. Repeated doses of tranquilizers are never in the horse's best interest if they can be avoided.
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Does Your Horse Know How to Be Trapped? Part 2

Part One

Trying to teach older horses to deal with being trapped is more complicated because of their size. It's not possible to reach around anything but a small foal and hold them in place when they are frightened or stressed. A larger horse will need to respond to some aids to be able to convince the horse to stand and not try to escape or fight.

Usually I will start with a new horse to my herd of Arabian horses by teaching the horse to give to pressure. I believe giving to pressure is the building block upon which all ground work is based. I prefer using a rope halter to begin this lesson because it is designed to put equal pressure on the pole and across the nose of the horse.

I begin by putting constant, even pressure on the lead pulling straight down. The amount of pressure will be determined by the horse. (If the horse pulls up a little, I will increase my pressure to match that move) I will maintain the pressure until the horse looks like it is thinking about dropping it's head or even if the horse looks like it is wondering what to do. Then I will release the pressure and praise the horse. Any release needs to include praising the horse with lots of petting.Normallly the release will cause the horse to drop its head. I will repeat this over and over until the horse gets very light and will drop it's head down very low.

Once I can lower the horse's head to any position straight down, I will work on moving the horse's head around to the side using the same pressure and release system including praise. I will only apply enough pressure to get the horse to turn its head. Gradually I will build up to where I have the horse taking a step and turning around me. If the horse seems confused or fights the pressure on its head, I will add pressure to it's hip, usually just swinging the end of the lead rope in the direction of the horse's hip is enough to accomplish this.

I will work this exercise on both sides until the horse is totally comfortable with dropping its head and moving around me going either direction. I will continue over the span of several days (or even longer if necessary) to repeat both excercises until it has become second nature for the horse to drop it's head upon request and to turn and walk softly (with head dropped) around me to either side.

Once I have reached this point, there are a couple of different ways that I can go to teach the horse to stand when it is frightened. The method I describe here is also used by both Arabian trainers Bill Porcher and Tommy Garland to teach a horse to handle fear or stress. See Tommy Garland on RFD-TV.

Depending on the horse, I may use either the halter and lead rope or a bridle with a snaffle bit. The horse in the picture is green broke and I used a big smooth snaffle bit and a saddle. A horse that is not broke to ride I would use the halter and lead rope only and I might use a surcingle instead of a saddle.

I would begin by tying the horse around slightly to one side or the other securing the rein (or leadrope) directly to the saddle. (the offside reing I tie loosely out of the way) I would then apply slight pressure to the horse's hip to encourage the horse to move. A step or two is plenty as long as the horse drops its head and moves off in a soft manner. If the horse runs off that is ok too. I just wait for it to settle.

I only tie a horse for about five minutes at a time to one side and then the other. Working back and forth between the two sides and gradually decreasing the length of the rein so that the horse is more and more bent to one side or the other. The goal being to build the horse's comfort level to having it's head pointed toward its shoulder. The mare in the picture is close to that point.



Once I have worked on this enough that I feel the horse understands the desired response, I will apply more pressure. What that pressure might be depends on the horse. I want to add pressure that is outside the horse's comfort level.

I had a gelding I had just started under saddle who was goosey when the wind blew. I took the horse to an arena that had noisy metal doors that banged in the wind. I tied the horse around in this manner and two of us on the ground kept the horse pushed up near the clanging doors. When the horse would soften, I would untie him and change sides and go again. In a matter of only 15 minutes this horse was standing quietly as the wind howled around him and the doors banged.

The mare in the picture was taken to a boarding facility away for home for the first time and the noises of the other horses in their stalls scared her when she was in the arena. I tied her around and kept her in the scariest part of the arena until she learned to soften and stand despite the screaming stallions, banging doors and wall kicking.

It is important in this excercise to not untie the horse until it is soft. That teaches the horse the way for it to be free is to be soft and quiet. If when you go to untie the horse, it braces against the rope or rein, apply pressure and release when the horse gives. Sometimes, I'll hold the horse's head when it gives to the pressure to hold the softness in the rein. Some horses need that extra help to understand.

I also use my voice to praise my horses whenever they respond appropriately. Then when they get frightened I can use my voice as reassurance and they will respond. Because petting has been a big part of the reward system of the release, the horse will also respond to touch as comfort and reassurance. Both tools are invaluable with a trapped horse.

In the event a horse wigs out and fights the pressure of being tied around, applying pressure to the hip until the horse moves forward will cause the horse to soften. Remember a horse may kick out so keep a safe distance when applying pressure to the hip. I use a small whip to tap my horses.

For a younger horse, I may use a different excercise, that one I will describe tomorrow. It is built on the same principle of giving to pressure.

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Does Your Horse Know How To Be Trapped?

The other night while visiting the MareStare chat one of the newbies asked if a particular horse on cam was cast. As usual in the chat room the conversation was going about sixteen different directions at the same time. I don't know if anyone really noticed her question except for me. I pulled up the cam she was talking about and saw a pinto horse standing in the center of the stall.

I let her know the horse was standing and she replied the gray horse. Then it dawned on me that this farm had rotating cams. They have more than one cam but only one hosting package and the cams switch from stall to stall. As an observer, I find them difficult to watch. But I went back and checked for the gray horse, and sure enough the horse was cast. It had rolled so tight into the wall that its legs were folded up and there was not way this horse could stand on its own. I called the owner of the horse and within a few minutes the horse was up and fine but without assistance things could have ended quite differently.

Having a horse down pushed up against the wall unable to get up can be very serious. Trapped horses tend to freak out and fight to get free. Being stuck up against the wall with no room for leverage makes it a battle the horse cannot win. Many times cast horses can get extensive rubs, break legs, damage tendons and even colic. The colic can be from the stress or worse the horse can twist a gut from thrashing around. Twisted guts from trashing against a wall are usually life ending because of the severe damage.

Since a horse's instinct tells them to flee or fight, if they can't flee they will fight unless they have learned a different response. If they fight in those trapped situations, it can be dangerous for both the horse and the handler.

There are lots of situations that horses can find themselves in that can make them feel trapped. Horses caught in fences can end up crippled for life or dead. Horses trapped in a mangled horse trailer from an accident can make it impossible for rescuers to help them if they are fighting. Just putting a horse up next to a stall wall to administer treatments can make a horse feel trapped and fight. Trying to catch a horse in a corner cam make it feel threatened enough to kick or run over the handler. I have a friend who had a yearling who got stuck between two trees. The horse freaked and struggled so badly she had to be euthanized.

Because horses can't reason their way out of a situation where they feel trapped, I always teach my horses how to be handle being "trapped." I set them up in situations where they will feel trapped and control how they deal with it. This way I know that my horses will not be dangerous when they feel threatened or trapped.

It's easy here because I can start with them as babies, I catch them when they don't want to be caught. That causes them to struggle to get free. I don't let them go until they get quiet and relaxed. I repeat this many times. What this does is teach the horse to relax and be quiet when they are trapped. Then if one ever gets cast, caught in a fence, trapped in a trailer accident etc, I have a horse that waits quietly and allows people to help the horse out of the situation.

The older horses are a little more difficult. I will explain how I teach them in my next post.

Part Two

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The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men and an Arabian Horse Breeder Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

When I tease mares here, I leave the stallion in his stall. It has a partial wall that goes up high enough that the stallion can reach over it and touch the mares but the he couldn't get over it to breed the Arabian mares. It's works great for me because I can tease mares by myself and everything is relatively safe. Normally, if a mare is in heat as the she gets close to the stallion, his talking and screaming will cause her to begin to show sings of heat. A mare that is ready to breed will throw her body right into the wall as close as she can get to the Arabian stallion.

This mare I was pushing up close to stallion and she was rearing, striking, screaming and trying to run away. Having no idea what to expect from this mare in heat, I had been uable to tell if she was cycling or not. Now that I was pretty sure the Arabian mare was in heat and I was getting the same response, it was time to change the plan. Realizing maybe this was fear on the mare's part, I decided to approach the stallion in a more conservative manner. I brought the Arabian mare up close to the wall but just out of reach of the stallion. I stood there with the mare. The stallion realized that something was different. He quit screaming and got quiet and thoughtful. The horse was stretching his neck as far as he could, trying to reach the Arabian mare. The stallion was making subtle sounds and blowing softly on the mare. As the mare became accustomed to the quiet advances of the stallion, I moved the Arabian mare a littler closer until, finally, he could just barely touch the mare lightly with his muzzle. He tried to nuzzle her but could just reach the hairs on her coat. As the Arabian mare's eyes softened as she relaxed, I movedthe mare a little closer so the stallion could actually nuzzle her. It wasn't but a few minutes and the Arabian mare moved herself right up next to the wall accepting the advances of the stallion. With just a little time and patience this new mare was showing like any of the other mares in my herd..

After this one session I have been able to put the Arabian mare out in the paddock that adjoins the stallion's stall. The mare comes up on her own and visits the stallion regularly now that she is no longer afraid of him. When the mare is in heat she shows actively to the stallion. I'm not longer worried about this Arabian mare being a breeding problem or a lactating anestrus mare. I believe when the time comes to breed this mare, I won't have any more problems. Wish I had realized sooner that I was trying to breed the mare on my terms instead of hers, I probably would be having that first foal by my stallion this year that I had hoped for. Whodda thunk.....

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The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men and an Arabian Horse Breeder. Part 2

Part 1

The Arabian mares had paired up in the field, which I had expected. Horses in a herd tend to run in pairs. But the new Arabian mare paired up with Scandalous Love who was nearly the last mare scheduled to foal. There was a big gap between foaling dates that didn't bode well for keeping the Arabian mares paired up with their foals.

The new Arabian mare did foal in January as expected. She managed to keep me up for a week and then did the deed while I was out of town at the Arabian Horse Assc.Region V Mini Convention. Dave and Lindsay were left to do the foaling. Every thing went as expected and the Arabian mare gave birth to a beautiful chestnut filly. The plan was on track so far.

The weather was awful so the Arabian horses weren't getting out much. I was hesitant to put a January foal out into freezing rain. By the time the weather finally did warm up enough for me to feel comfortable with the new Arabian mare and her foal outside, Bey Aana, one of my other Arabian mares, had foaled as well, a pretty chestnut colt. So I decided to break up the way the Arabian mares had paired themselves and put the new mare with her foal out with Aana and her foal. That worked pretty well. The colt was a pistol but the filly was enough older and bigger than the colt that the filly soon put the colt in his place. So this was another obstacle overcome.

The next step was to breed the mare, but that's where the Arabian mare decided she knew better than I. No way would that mare show to the stallion. I tried everything.I left the foal in the stall and teased the mare away from the foal. I moved her into the stall right next to the stallion so she could get accustomed to him. I turned her out into the field facing his stall where she could come right up to the stallion's stall on her own and get to know him. This Arabian mare was having none of it.

I wasn't in all that big a hurry to breed the Arabian mare early in the year because the weather is too erratic for young foals. So I didn't worry about the Arabian mare not showing heat too much at first. But by the time April was almost gone, I was beginning to worry that maybe I had a lactating anestrus mare ( a mare that doesn't have heat cycles while lactating) I planned to have her checked by the vet but Mother Nature intervened.
Scandalous Love foaled twins and keeping them alive became my top priority. By the time I got through with the months of care and expenses for them, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to continue breeding horses. let alone deal with a difficult breeding mare.

I did try off and on to tease the new horse when I suspected the mare was in heat. The only sign I saw was a little bit of tail rubbing but the mare was always rejected the Arabian stallion. The mare wanted nothing to do with the stallion. The plan of having a foal on the ground by the next year was fast disintegrating.

Finally, I weaned the Arabian filly to see if I could get the mare to show heat. It was about a week before she showed signs. The Arabian mare was kicking the walls of her stall down along with rubbing her tail. At this point, I was sure the Arabian mare was in heat. But taking her to the Arabian stallion, I was still getting the same response.

Trying to problem solve my dilemma, I began rethinking everything I knew about this mare and horses in general. I know that this mare has never been bred live cover. Her first pregnancy they used frozen semen and the next two she was artificially inseminated with fresh semen. What they had done about teasing her etc was anyone's best guess.

Then it dawned on me, while I had taken extra care to introduce her to the other mares in my herd because she was in foal, I had not done anything different about the way I introduced her to the Arabian stallion. The scariest, most intimidating horse in the new herd but I more or less just threw the Arabian Mare at the stallion expecting the urge to breed to be stronger than her fear. So much for my horse sense.

To be continued....

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men and an Arabian Horse Breeder.

In Dec of 2005, RO Lervick Arabians was having their yearly winter sale of Arabian horses. On their sales list was an Arabian mare than I had been coveting since her birth. I called to find out the horse's price. Then asked my husband if we could borrow the money against his retirement fund so I could buy this mare.

Asking Dave to borrow and particularly against his retirement is not something I would normally do. He knew immediately how much I wanted this Arabian horse. He checked into it and I made arrangements with the farm manager, Dennis Wigren, to put a deposit on the horse until the rest of the money arrived.

To say that I was excited was probably the biggest understatement of the year. The Arabian mare, Bint Gamaay Rose, has an impeccable pedigree. She's by SH Phantom Echo and out of a Gamaar daughter, making her the youngest Gamaar granddaughter in the world. The Gamaar bloodlines are getting harder and harder to find and any real study of Arabian horses' bloodlines knows how valuable they are. I already own an Arabian mare that is a genetic 3/4 sister to this mare and have really appreciated the cross with my stallion, Scandalous Legacy. I was really excited about the possibilities getting a generation closer to Gamaar. The plan was to breed her in March or April so I I could find out if my intuition was correct as soon as possible.

The Arabian mare was already in foal to nationally renowned stallion, Out of Cyte, for a January foal. She had had two foals previously, both fillies. I was crossing my fingers and hoping for another filly so I would have a third Gamaar bred Arabian mare.

Moving a ten months pregnant mare into a new herd is a delicate situation. Even though they had assured me that she was an easy horse to get along with and not a problem with other mares, you just never know how a mare is going to react when she's in foal. Instinct is an amazing thing and what a pregnant mare is going to see as a threat is a whole new ballgame. On the other hand I was concerned if I didn't introduce the Arabian horse to the other mares before she foaled, with a foal at her side it could be even more challenging.

Part of my problem stems from the fact I have a lot of horses on small acreage. My horses live in stalls and get rotated out for exercise. The mares with foals I try to keep out as much as possible. I didn't really have the room to put this horse in a field by herself for the whole time she would have a foal at her side. If the horse was going to get much time outside, the mare needed to fit into the herd.

I started off with the new horse on the other side of the fence, getting to know the other pregnant mares. None of the mares was due to foal until March so the early foaling of the new horse also added to the dynamics. My believed if I could get my mares to accept the new horse as part of the herd before she foaled, even if she turned out to be low on the pecking order, they would give her space with her foal. The horse's introductions over the fence were pretty noisy but it didn't appear that any of the mares had a major gripe about the new horse in the herd. At least that was a good sign.

Finally the day came that I was ready to introduce the new mare into the other pregnant mares pasture. The horses did a little running around at first and some screaming but nothing scary. It was only a matter of minutes and grazing became more important to the Arabian horses than the new mare. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I was out of the woods. You'd think after twenty years with horses, I would know better.

To be continued....
Part 2