Training with the Lightning: A Three Month Review

The Three Month Evaluation

It has been three months since we brought Brody home. We have found where is strengths and challenges are to be sure. We have pushed him hard and exposed him to a whole new existence. Reviewing this journey tells us a great deal about how much Brody has adapted and changed in just 90 days. We have had many good days and a few memorable bad days along the way. Having a program and an approach has been awesome. Yet, some days the frustration hits us and that messes with our training flow. As Clinton likes to say “Be black and white with no shades of gray. In other words don’t be a nagging mother.” When those rare days of frustration or confusion pop up they are jarring. Laurie and I keep saying that “it’s a journey, not a race” and step back, breath in, breath out and move on.  So, last night we sat down and looked at where we started and where we are now. We asked the hard questions about his fit with our family and his future. We thought long and hard if we were the best fit for him. We’ve done this with every horse we have worked with in the last four years. It is a process that allows us to remain objective while giving the best love, care and training we can.

STRENGTHS: Brody is a very willing horse. He really does try his best for you every time even when he is tired. Brody learns pretty quickly too. He picks up concepts after just few tries. Brody thrives on praise and looks for it from his human. He likes the cuddles as well as the activity. Brody is also very forgiving, especially if the human he is paired with praises him/gives him breaks when the human makes a mistake. He has packed around real novices and helped them understand the importance of the groundwork first, then we ride concept. Brody is social and mellow in his approach to human. He likes to look, smell, take a measure of the human and then ask for pets. Even though he had not been loaded in a trailer for years he was willing to try it out. He now loads with just a pointing of the finger and he does travel well.

CHALLENGES: Brody is not the most courageous of horses. He has to be introduced to new situations and scary objects slowly to build up his confidence. However once he is confident he is great. Brody does not like to be wrong. It upsets him if he makes a mistake. Hence, the need for a mental break and the need for a success to rub away the mistake in his mind. This also applies to his human. If the biped makes an error and does not rub it away before trying again (letting their frustration show) he keys into that and begins to get reactive. When he gets to that full on reactive state it takes focus to bring him back down to a thinking state. This has improved over the last 90 days but it is going to be a long term fix. Brody was pretty reactive to being girthed up too. He would over react and did not do well tied up when the saddle was cinched up. We were told thins upon purchasing him. Our solution seems to be working. We do some groundwork and do some desensitizing with the lead rope around the girth line (wrap, squeeze, release and rub) then we saddle him up. We have progressed quite a bit in this area but more work needs to be done to get him super comfortable with the process. The funny thing is once the saddle in on and the first couple of cinches are done he is fine. It is just in the intial girthing. Go figure.

THOUGHTS/PLANS: As long as our lives stay on course and as long as Brody continues to improve and his personality remains consistent we feel he is a good fit for us over the long term. The winter was a tough time for him and getting his weight up has taken some time. He is packing on muscle and is really showing some great tone. His stamina is getting better and he needs fewer breaks when under saddle. His feet are looking much better than they did at Day 1. He seems more comfortable at the faster gaits packing my 220 pound frame around. We have been working three to four days a week pretty regularly and will continue to do this. We have some great opportunities coming up this season to expose both Brody and Argent to new things and new situations. We’ll be hauling them all over the region too. Booster shots and dental maintenance will be happening soon too. At 13 he has had some history but it also feels like he missed out on some fundamental training. So we are having to fill the gaps in his program. We’re pushing his development to the next level and introducing exercises that are outside his experience which is good. Taking into account how he learns and what he needs from his humans we figure that the spring summer will be all about development and the fall will be all about review and refinement. The neat thing about having a horse like Brody is that is pushes Argent and Laurie to aim higher as well. This 90 period has seen some great growth in skills and confidence in both of them and it is amazing to watch. It should be a great learning experience for all of us. Our next goal is having an amazing camping trip at Camelot Equestrian Center in Butte Valley, California in mid April. Between now and then we’ll stick to our program, work the Method and stay focused.