Libby

I'm working with my filly almost daily now. Time spent with Libby is quite rewarding. Working on picking her up her feet is a drag, but we're making progress. The trick is not to hold her foot up long enough for her to take it away from me: If I think she'll jerk it away in three seconds, I put it down after two. Little by little I increase the time. She is getting better, and I'm learning to do simple things like making sure she's squared up on all fours before I pick up a foot, so she can keep her balance better. I am so awkward at things like this, not to mention that my reflexes aren't what they used to be. Anyway, we're making headway. One hind foot is still more of a problem than the others, for some reason.

Last summer and fall, before I ever attempted riding Libby, I was driving her in the round pen. I came to a point where I wondered if I was doing her more harm than good: when I first started working her, if I dropped the whip, she would come directly to me, facing me. That's what she is supposed to do. Later on, though, she started getting acting afraid, for some reason, and quit coming to me when I dropped the whip. So I decided to forgo round-penning.

I'm not knowledgeable about horse-training, and my confidence level isn't high. All I know is what I read online (like this), and the advice I get from experienced trainers. The folks on the Homesteading Today equine forum have helped me several times.

Today I groomed Libby and handled her feet, then rode her in the round pen; she's getting better at turning and stopping, and she will even back a couple of steps; mind you, I keep her at a walk because I'm still old and break easily. I led her back to the barn and was going to turn her out, but I decided to try lunging her first to see how she'd do.

And she did great! Well, she was confused at first because I had the whip in the wrong hand (stupid me); but once I got things right, she did fine. Every time I dropped the whip, she came right to me.

I am so uncoordinated that it's hard for me to remember some of the very simple rules of lunging: don't look the horse in the eye, for instance. That un-nerves them, and they feel threatened (that's what this article says; however, this article says the opposite. See why I get confused?). If you're driving the horse, you're supposed to keep your eyes on their buttocks to keep them moving forward. You don't use the whip to "whip" the horse, by the way. I very seldom even crack it.

All of this is supposed to establish pecking order and build trust. I'm beginning to think it might work, in spite of a novice trainer who hardly knows what she's doing.

round pen pictures

Stopping to turn in the other direction


When I drop my arm and the whip, she turns toward me. When I start walking, she follows.

Libby in the round pen

I mentioned in a recent entry that Cliff watched me working Libby in the round pen and pointed out things I was doing wrong. Somebody asked in my comment section what, in particular, I was doing wrong.

Well folks, almost everything! Because one of the websites I used for instruction said to use a rope to get the horse going and keep her going, tossing it toward her or twirling it; and also because I don't have a lunge whip yet... I used Libby's lead rope. Cliff pointed out that I should have been aiming it at her back end, and I was aiming it more at her side. This confused her.

You need to know that I'm very uncoordinated, and my reaction time is slow. So part of the time the rope didn't go where I intended. One time while Cliff was watching, Libby turned her butt toward me and kicked out. I was in no danger, because she was at a distance. But Cliff reminded me that I cannot allow her ever to turn her backside toward me. He is not a horse trainer, but he's watched a lot of Clinton Anderson and other shows on RFD.

Yesterday I watched Adam lunge his horse, Tude, and got some much-needed advice.

Today I took Libby to the round pen; this time I borrowed Adam's lunge whip. It's much easier to keep it at her rear end then the rope was. By the way, there is no "whipping" done. I just more-or-less wave it behind her and she goes.

Adam had explained to me how to get her to change directions, and it worked every single time. The instant I would drop the whip to my side, she would stop, face me, and come to me. The whole session was a total success. And it didn't work me nearly as hard as my previous attempts.

Can you tell I'm happy?

Libby in the round pen

Although it was sprinkling, I decided to see what I could do with Libby in the round pen; I really didn't expect things to go very well, but I decided to follow the old adage, "Do something, lest ye do nothing".

I read a couple of articles on the Internet several times over. One by Julie Goodnight, a very helpful one HERE, and some others.

Once my filly and I were in the round pen, I began swinging a rope in Libby's direction, pointing in the direction I wanted her to go (telling myself, "Yeah, sure... she's going to know what I mean when I point.") and after a couple of false starts and wrong tries, she was soon going around and around... just like she was supposed to do!

And by about the third time of me dropping my pointing arm and my rope and saying whoa, she realized she was supposed to stop. After another round or two, she not only stopped at my signal, but she turned toward me, paused, and then slowly approached me to get her praise for a job well done.

I'm speechless!

I only took her in one direction today. It began raining harder, and besides, I like to end things on a positive note.

What a horse.

Cliff's other new projects

I don't know about you, but I sometimes wonder how Cliff finds time to go to work, he has so many projects. Well actually, sometimes he doesn't. He played hooky yesterday.

This is a round pen he's building, for training horses. I'm not real confident that I'll know how to make Libby perform properly in it, but Adam and Jessica are elated about this addition! You'd have thought they'd won the lottery when they saw what Cliff was doing. Adam is going to contribute the sand that is needed, for proper footing for the horses.

This trailer belongs to a friend. Cliff is going to see if our car can comfortably pull it with two big motorcycles on board. If so, he'll do a little customizing, and when we go to Colorado this summer with Cliff's sister and her husband, we'll take our Honda and their Harley. Once we arrive at our destination, we'll park the car and ride the motorcycles.