Restarting Monte, Part 1

Monte is a registered Arabian from Polish Arab stock and was used an on the track racehorse before my late my wife bought him when he was 15 years old. A really handsome Bay Gelding, she could not pass him up when he became available as she was, then, successfully passing cancer treatment and was looking for an additional trail horse to complement her steady Sorrel Gelding Charlie who was then in his late 20's. But just as soon as we brought him home, my wife's cancer came back. Subsequent brain surgeries and radiation made riding, especially a very reactive Arab, a dangerous proposition. So Monte basically became a companion horse for my wife's two other horses for just over 7 years.

For those seven years, I had been taking Monte out of the pens and turning him out. In doing so I had to get him to lead on a soft feel, rate his speed and position, stopping, and backing. Subsequently he became soft in his face and generally a gentleman. That was the extent of his handling and his understanding. So, that routine along with the farrier trimming his feet every 8 weeks, getting brushed and groomed, and, Vet calls for annual Coggins, health checks and teeth floating, were Monte's life. After my wife passed away late last year, her best friend Arlene, who was holding my wife's other hand when she passed, asked me if I would let Monte go to her. I readily acquiesced as that was a great idea and Monte would go to a great home. So we made plans for me to restart Monte and get him safe for her to ride and ready to ship to his new home. That day has came a few days ago. Although I had a seven day trip away from home followed by a 10 day bout of Sepsis which kind of set me back restarting Monte, I was able to work with him and ride him for almost 2 weeks prior to his ship date.

When Arlene flew in for a few days prior to shipping Monte to get exposed to what I had been doing with Monte and to ride him where I could watch and help. Day One was basically a demonstration on how I approached re-starting Monte, demonstrating both on the ground and in the saddle. Day Two was a repeat of Day One however we filmed much of it in short sessions, which I am including in this five part series, then having Arlene ride Monte so I could watch and help her and him. It was important that Arlene was here riding Monte before he was shipped because in my experience, working with a horse without the owner is much less effective than working with the horses and owner/rider. And Day Three was spent trailer loading, showing how I prepared Monte to load and backout, which would be useful as a basic template for loading other horses in the future.

In the beginning Monte was pretty reactive.....big, quick movements with the minimal pressure. It wasn't my first rodeo with an ex race horse as when I ran a large public barn people were bringing in ex racehorses from the local racetrack all the time. Some I helped when asked, others sadly enough were regulated to owners who wanted an immediate trail or roping horse without doing the work or understanding how to go about it. As I worked with Monte on following a soft feel on the reins to lead up I saw right off that Monte could come down emotionally and slow his reactions. And by leading up or becoming halter broke, I mean soft to halter; understands a neutral lead rope to stand and wait for a signal; to move forward on a soft feel; to back up on the same; responds when I start to connect the lead rope to directional control of each individual foot, and, gives to pressure when applied slowly and measurably.

Although seemingly a very basic way to re-start a horse, I think the understanding the horse gets from being softly asked for a response and given the time to respond really sets him up for success, as I'll be asking for the same, in the same way as I progress to the saddle and that occurred on day two. The text article and videos I'm posting through this five part series, are snippets or highlights of the 10-12 rides I put on Monte to get him ready, and safe, for Arlene. And these short videos were intended for Arlene to show I spent the time getting him ready for her. I hope this helps someone else.

We all need a horse to stand still until we direct him, so I worked with Monte understanding what neutral is. That is no feel on the lead rope. I call this neutral as eventually a horse will move, but he'll learn and become more and more responsive to a gradually pulling the slack out of the lead rope (and the lead rope will become a rein or the lead portion of a mecate soon) and move towards me. Many people don't worry about a horse understanding backing until later on in the starting process as forward momentum is so important. However, I like to get that working early on, as backing is useful to positioning a horse up in so many ways.....backing up to get room to open a gate, re-position from crowding you, re-positioning on the shoeing stand, and much more.

As I have on 2 and 3 year old's as well as older horse's being re-started, I can move right to connecting the lead rope to a foot by asking a front foot to step out to the side. This allows me and the horse a better start from the saddle when I ask the same with the rein. Then I move to the back end, standing right by the stirrup, or where the stirrup or front cinch would be if the horse has no saddle, with a loose lead I will rub and pet on him, sometimes making noise with the saddle until I pickup the lead alongside his body maybe slightly tipping his nose until he steps over and away from me, with the rear foot nearest me stepping underneath himself in front of the other rear foot, untracking his back end. This will be more and more useful as we go forward, doing turn arounds, facing up, practically everything.

Correcting my own mistakes

I was riding a few weeks ago and realized that I was pretty much solely focused on the performance of my horse. At some level I was aware of my own position and balance and what effect that is having on my horse but it dawned on me that I could use more focus on correcting my own bad riding habits and at the forefront of hhat list would be balance and timing (of cues and the release). As far as riding, we all know the common advice....... "head up", "heels down", "put a slight arch to your back", "push your butt into the seat", "heels aligned with your hip and shoulder", "put a little more weight into your stirrups", "quit leaning to the inside when you ride circles", "quit leaning to the outside when you ride circles",...or what I was always told "you look like a monkey riding a donkey". All good things.

Years ago, maybe even 10-12 years ago, I had a noted dressage competitor come down to my arena and watch me ride and offer observations. She pretty much gave me what I knew to be my bad habit of riding too much forward as my shoulders were not really over may hips but more to my thighs. Some of that is correctable with your heels down or at least on the same plane as your toes, but when your toes start dipping down too much it places your body weight forward, hence the shoulders past your centerline. But it certainly helped to have someone coach me and (near continuously) tell me shoulders back, butt in seat and heels down. There was a time when my ego wouldn't have allowed any consideration of those type of observations.

But lets not forget about timing. Oh so important. With bad timing we can prevent the horse from learning, frustrating us and well as the horse. I hate to think of myself as the rider who asks, asks, aks and never gives, gives, gives. So along with focusing on my seat and correcting those bad habits, but I am also working on looking for that slightest movement or understanding the horse presents and give him a release. And upon that release be sure to give him a pause as well, so what I am asking doesn't run right into other asks and masking the release.

Most people know or are aware of what I wrote above. If this helps someone, then great. But to be sure I am writing this for myself primarily. So after going a couple months in the late part of last year without throwing a leg over a horse, I made it a goal to make sure every ride is as accurate as I can be with my position and balance. The horses have enough to do without trying to compensate for me.

The Time, Place and Reasons for Lunging

I received two questions these past couple weeks relating to lunging. Kathy wrote "Do you still make lunge lines? I have been using what I think is a dressage lunge line that is flat just kind of difficult to hold onto when I lunge my horse so I'm looking for another rope type lunge line". The second question was when MK asked "where does lunging fit in to my ground work and how often do or should I lunge a horse?"

First of all. Let's settle on the term "Lunging". Most people would think of lunging is having a horse on the end of a line and driving it in circles, such as in a round pen. No, I do not make lunge lines, which I often called driving lines, anymore. Other places are offering these tools which are better quality than I can make and well worth the cost. Craig Cameron offers a pair of 25 foot driving lines, here is the link: https://www.craigcameronstore.com/product24.html

A person could use one of these driving lines if they wanted to conventionally lunge a horse on the end of the a long line. Yet, you would still have two driving lines in case you wanted to ground drive a horse. Ground driving a horse and lunging a horse which would see about the same amount of use, pretty much minimal, in preparing a horse. But they are good tools to have on hand and if you work with a lot of horses, maybe they get used. I'll address that further.

My reasoning on Lunging Initially, lunging a very green or even unhandled horse, is something I'll do and find useful to me. However, sometimes depending on the horse's energy and anxiety, I'll just let them loose in a round pen and allow them to trot or canter circles to get used to me. Periodically, I'll get in front of the horse and turn them in the other direction, which usually results in a horse turn away me from putting his butt to me. I accept that for the first session. I work to get the horse stopping and facing up, but many times they won't be faced upped with both eyes on me. Sometimes it'll just be a eye but you can tell from the demeanor that curiosity is beginning to replace anxiety or fear. I'll often walk in and get a touch on the horse then back away. I may move the horse around again, or re-approach and tie a long line (22 to 25 foot driving line) to the halter - I used rope halters with tied on 12 to 14 foot lead ropes so I simply untie the lead to tie on the long line. Then I'll drive the horse and use the long line, which gives me leverage and safety, to stop and give to pressure, pulling them to a turn to face me up. These pulls are just pulls and not jerks. I'll let the long line get taunt then pull. If everything goes well, that may be the last time I use a long line. I'll switch back to a 12-14 foot lead rope and do much the same as the horse gets more comfortable with being on the end of a line, more comfortable with me close to him and starting to understand giving to pressure of me pulling it to a stop and facing up.

On the 12-14 foot lead rope as I'm asking them to stop, and turn to face up, I am asking the horse to untrack (sometimes called disengage) his back end by stepping underneath himself with the inside hind foot and over (in front of) the outside hind foot. I'll do this on a green horse until there is progress with the horse giving to pressure on the lead line to stop and face up, and he untracks his back end. Progress will be reflected with the horse being less bracy on the lead line, and the head not flying up in reaction to the pressure. I work to ask him to stop and face up with diminishing pressure to match his understanding of what I'm asking. Nobody wants horse who every time a lead line of rein is picked up, the head flies up in reaction to the pressure. On older horses this is usually a reaction to feeling the pressure and expecting pain following the initial signal. This is the place to get a green horse expecting fair and soft handling which will develop into moving on a soft feel.

As the horse develops a better understanding, The lunging on a 12-14 foot lead rope becomes moving them in circles with the intent of the horse tipping his head slightly to the inside, moving on a loose lead line and putting the inside hind foot on the ground underneath himself. If the horse puts his head to the outside and straightens out (takes the slack out of) the lead line, as the lead line becomes taunt I'll bump his head back to the inside and again offer a loose lead line.

On free lunging. Once I get a saddle on a green horse, I turn them loose to move (walk, trot or even lope) circles in the round pen......whatever they need to do. Some will buck a few times then settle down to trotting. Some may buck several times around the round pen. This is normal. Big change to their lives with something strapped to their back and often creaking or slapping them some. On an interesting note, there is this where a well known horseman, who I highly respect, but I did not agree with when he said you once you turn a green horse loose with a saddle on, you have to do whatever you can to not let him buck. And he demonstrated re-directing the a colt bucking with a saddle by getting in front of him and using a flag. From my perspective, he was successful in getting the horse to change direction but not to stop bucking, and all I think he did was to raise the horse's anxiety or fear level. I just prefer to let them run around and buck. One or two turns of the round pen and they are usually done with bucking as they figure out they don't need to buck. The 2 year old sorrel horse in the photos, Zeke, was a pretty funny exception. He was a very quiet horse through ground work but once I put the saddle on the turned him loose, he ran around 6 or 8 times around the round pen bucking the whole time, then I drew him to me and he trotted up and started bucking in place. I couldn't do much for a minute or two since I was laughing so hard. So I'm getting off track here, back to free lunging.

Sometimes, after I saddle up a riding horse or even a colt who has had a few rides, I will sometimes use the round pen to let him move around warming up. In my reasoning this is halfway between the horse being left alone in his pen, and you riding him, as you have a saddle on him. but you are not tearing up any country. I have said before in other writings that if you ride a horse, it's worth it to warm him up. And while this is also warming up his mind, reminding he horse that you will soon on his back and directing him, it also allows the rider to see if there are any lameness or gait issues.

Most often on a riding horse after saddling I will direct him with the lead end of the mecate reins in circles at a walk and trot, stopping, untracking his rear end, bringing his front end over and going the other direction for the same reason's I warm a horse up. If gives a horse a chance to let some air out, and allows me to re-tighten the front cinch as it loosens just a bit as the horse's relaxes some. So I'm trying to get something out of the horse while giving something fair. I think if you aren't lunging with a purpose in mind the horse will likely figure that out and becomes distracted from you.

Lateral Flexion in a Colt's first few rides

I picked up a 2 year old sorrel gelding last year at a sale. I was really happy to have the winning bid on him, kind of surprised that he was overlooked by other bidders on the other two year olds, who all had smaller heads, small bones and feet, and narrow chests. I chose him for his wide chest, thick bone structure and big feet.

He is highly bred and I was just as happy a kid in a candy factory. Thats him at the top right photo. I was really anxious to get him going. I tried to start him a couple times but to due to more important things involving my late wife this past summer, fall and even winter, he sat neglected until recently. So now he is coming three in May and I have done a decent ground work and put a few rides on him.



Before I swung a leg over, I had him following a soft feel on a lead rope in backing, coming forward, disengaging his back end, moving his front end over, coming to the fence to pick me up, going quietly through gates, untracking him with the lead around his outside rump and asking him to follow that feel through the bend. I got him pretty soft in the face, to drop his head and started him on lateral flexion which I needed for direction when I put the first ride on him and certainly for rides outside the round corral. He was fairly bracey on one side, going to his left. I thought that I would help him get a better understanding on lateral flexion once I had the first ride on him. So, I swung a leg over and moved out. 

Well, everybody has heard that horses are going to be better on one side than the other. But I have never had a horse with the difference in one side to the other, than this horse, who I named Zeke. While just sitting in the saddle and asking for him to follow a feel for lateral flexion, to his right he willingly tipped his nose then head when I asked for lateral flexion, but to the left he still had a brace and a pretty stubborn brace at that.

I was pretty surprised and his reluctance to give him his head and spent a lot of time trying to figure out the why and the how to get him better. He easily went into a nice trot and really didn't have a problem keeping the trot unlike some other young horses. When I ask a young horse to give me a trot and if he wants to stop, I don't nit pick at him, instead letting I let him settle down then asking again for the trot but Zeke was pretty good from the get go. One key is that I always asked him for wide turns in changing direction and he was good at that which did not require a lot of lateral flexion. I was riding him in snaffle bit with big slobber straps and mecate reins. All in all, I am pleased with him. Smart horse (aren't they all?), but yet the brace continued.

- click on the photo above to enlarge - 

Knowing that I couldn't just work on lateral flexion all day - it would lead to frustration for both of us - I was riding just letting him get more comfortable in what he could already do without trouble. What I found that in the trot when I ask for softness tipping his nose and head to the left, he was better and go even better. Still some brace, but again getting better. So, it kind of goes back to the old adage that you need forward momentum out of a horse in order to build an understanding. He's no exception. And he is gaining confidence with carrying me around and responding as long as I don't overload him. I make sure I quit him on something he does well and is quiet and soft about. There is SO much joy in starting a young green horse. I hope many of you get that chance.  

Getting on with Living

After losing my wife to cancer 5 months ago, a terrible disease that came back on her with a vengeance that took us all by surprise, and the subsequent things that accompany a loss of your spouse,....profound grief, funeral arrangements; communicating with the Army of support that surrounded her and I,....the seemingly never ending legal issues; going through property for donations; catching up all tasks left undone; and, feeling bad about the horses only getting minimal attention, I have been getting reacquainted with my horses after several months of minimal attention. I am reminded of the saying that "the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man". Nothing could be truer.

What has helped me get through these tough times is the love of people who knew Susan, my belief that she was received by Jesus Christ on her passing, and rediscovering my love for horses. I am thankful for God to allowing me the time he has given me, the trust in me for caring for His animals and the joy I can feel riding and working with my horses.

I am often asked my people how you get through the loss of your spouse and the first word that comes to mind is gratefulness. Sounds kind of strange using that word in a place of intense grief and sorrow, but if a person isn't grateful for what they have been given, be it health, mobility, means to live comfortably, and animals to travel this journey with you, then the ungrateful person is likely not to cope very well.

So I am back to riding everyday, sometimes 2 or even 3 different horses, enjoying every understanding the horses' have, even if it is preceded by days of not getting it. Enjoying learning, relearning even if it's my riding and understandings that need to be fixed.

Be thankful and find joy in your daily life. There are so many who are in such a dark place, where the finding or rediscovering of joy is near impossible for them. I am incredibly thankful I am not one of them. Safe Journey with your horses!