I start colts and train ranch/rope horses for a living, and took a slight haitus this winter/spring as we welcomed my first child, an adorable and perfect baby boy into the world in late February. It has been tough to adjust to motherhood while also trying to keep our pastures fenced, horses cared for, calve out our small herd of cows, among all the other things I always did on the ranch and in the home. I finally felt ready to take a couple client horses again and have had a 2 yo filly for a couple months that has been extremely sensitive and standoffish. My goal for her is not to put any hard rides on her since she is so young but just for her to learn to be saddled, washed, confident at a w/t/c out in the pasture, and overall easier to handle and more sensible and agreeable. Well it has been a long road to hoe with me working with her at 5am before my husband left for work, working her with my baby in the stroller watching from outside the roundpen, and sometimes going a week without working her when it rained for a week straight and when it was finally dry the baby had an adverse reaction to one of his vaccines and was sick and crabby for 3 days straight. Well, finally I got her lunging well, standing quietly to be saddled, flexing her nose around, yielding her hind end, sacked out to flags, roped all 4 feet (just to get her used to the sensation of something being around her foot while she was jogging around), rimfired her (essential for a potential rope/ranch horse who may get a rope under the tail in their life and needs to learn not to wig out in that case), among several other groundwork exercises to make sure she was going to be prepared for her first ride.
My goal for the first ride for her was super super small compared to most other colts, but with her sensitive nature and how willing she is to fight I decided I needed to make small steps forward and let her have some wins and build confidence. It was simple, I wanted to be able to step on, flex her around both ways to see me out of both eyes, and then step off. If she felt good I was going to walk a couple circles both directions if not no big deal. The day finally came, my husband had the baby, and I stepped on. I flexed her both ways, and at one point she got scared by lord knows what in the distance and I could feel the stick of dynamite get lit; at that point anything I did was going to end in a blow up. I tell you, I am so proud of her for continuing to flex her head around both ways and hold it together. I stepped off once she felt like she was relaxed again and I couldnt be happier with her. We met in the middle, I lowered my expectations and she trusted me not to push her past what she could handle.
While it is frustrating when I am used to at the minimum walk and jog both ways on the first ride, I am pleased that if nothing else I built a little confidence in her that I would never ask for more than she could handle and I have a starting point for the rest of her life undersaddle. It is especially sweet knowing that I still have the confidence to step on a colt that is more than happy to play a game of yard darts with me.
Here is to the next 60 or so rides and sending her home to grow and mature until next year.
Moderate Temperatures and Overcast
