Bravo came to me on Sunday, and I did some very general petting and testing out his interest in connecting and communicating with humans that day. Nothing video taped or anything, but without a lead/halter, he would follow me around the round pen and do circles at my request.
Then he had a couple days to acclimate to his new surroundings because as my cousin died on 7/16, the funeral was 7/19, and there was family still at our house on 7/21, so 7/21 was the first day I actually got to spend any reasonable time with him.
When I got there, he was very happy to see me, and nickered and called as I got out of the car. He is being kept in the round pen, so there was no issue with getting him gathered where I wanted.
I set up the camera to video tape me doing some very basic ground work. Again, just testing the waters as I don't know him all that well yet.
His feet do need some minor farrier work on them, though they aren't as bad as I thought they were on Sunday. Either he has managed to wear them down a little on the possibly harder ground, or I was just a little emotionally overwhelmed on Sunday that I was being a bit judgmental. All in all anyway, he does need a little trim work done as they are flaring out, and due to the fact that the farrier is coming in approximately 2 weeks, my initial goal is to get him to stand nicely for a farrier.
He is a big boy. Somewhere between 16 and 17 hands is my estimate based on how tall he is compared to me. Here are some stills taken from video of him next to me.
I am a squat and overweight 4'11" (I really didn't want to be seen in any of the videos and pictures.) His back is well over my eye level as you can see (you should be able to click on the picture and get a larger version.) He's going to be big enough that he is taller than my mother who is 5'2". My dad is 6', and will be able to see over his back.
This is a drastic change from all my other horses in the past which I have been able to drape my arm across their back/see over their back. I have never had a Thoroughbred before.
To test out his willingness to lift his feet, I used a soft lead rope around his pastern to encourage him to lift on command, while being able to keep a view of everything going on around me. I am all about safety for myself and the horse. There was no one there except me, and my cell phone was in the backpack next to the camera because I didn't want the ringing to startle him. (
As I become more familiar with him and his behaviors I will begin to do things more naturally).
Coming very shortly:
Video of me working with Bravo the way described below.
I entered the round pen, and walked him around a little bit just to make sure he wasn't showing signs of pain or soreness, and to get him in the frame of mind to listen to me. Then I let him sniff the rope I was going to use and began "sacking" him out to it until he stood relaxed enough to progress through.
Then I made him move into a position where the weight was not being borne on the foot I was going to work with first.
This lead rope is purely slung around the leg beneath the pastern to allow pressure to be applied from a standing and aware position. I worked with him to teach him what I was looking for, since if he was used to lifting his feet through the general method this would be confusing. After a try or two releasing the pressure with an attempt to comply he quickly began lifting and holding on each foot. Judging from the fact his hooves need only a minimal amount of work I would say this is something he understands, so on Thursday I will try lifting the normal way.
On the first inkling he understood, I relieved the pressure. He did very well, and we worked on this in several small sessions through the evening. We got all four feet lifted and held for several seconds this way, and I think it is going to be just fine.
After doing 15-20 minutes of some lifting and some general leading around the pen to see if he understands walk, turn, and halt, I took him out for a walk. This was to see how he behaved on the road with light traffic, other horses in pastures next to him, and dogs.
When walking to the road he was devouring the grass on the way. I let him eat a few bites because it was getting close to meal time, and then we walked down the long drive to the road. Once on the road there was cut grass laying on the side in the easement and he was ravenous about eating that. We got about 5-10 minutes out, and encountered an oncoming delivery truck. The driver was very nice and slowed down politely to pass. Bravo did acceptably, though there is some work to be done. He was a bit high headed when the truck approached and didn't care for the fact I was making him stand in a drive way near a gate while the truck went by.
We heard some dogs barking a few properties away however, because I was getting a blister on the back of my ankle from the new "boots" I am trying to break in, and the fact this was a major adventure for the two of us already, I turned us back to the Running R Ranch. He was prancing about a bit at this point, and one of the horses in the front pasture (a white Arabian) was tearing off running and bucking a bit in excitement. This was keeping him a little distracted, and so it was more of a struggle getting him back then getting him out. He kept also tearing into every bit of grass he could. I'm going to have to curb that as well.
All in all, Bravo did reasonably well. We are going to work on getting him to observe personal bubble space, and desensitizing to vehicles, and animals. He also on the way out was very good about staying back and going where I said to go, but on the way back he was rushing me, which we are also going to work on with some basic groundwork manners. I'm going to hold off just a little longer on the dogs, since I don't know if they will nip, chase, or cause problems.
Lifting the feet would not normally be one of the first things I would focus on, but I need to make sure he is ready for when the farrier comes. I don't want to get on the bad side of this farrier.
(This was written Thursday 7/22 about work done Wednesday 7/21. It was not posted until Sunday the 25th. I know I am behind - There will be other entrys for Thursday 7/22, Friday 7/23, Saturday 7/24, and Sunday 7/25 posted today. I was delayed in posting because I spent forever trying to get the video downloaded to my computer so I could post it properly.)Until our paths cross again -
Happy Tails!
Lucy Roberts
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