Adventures in Weanling Wonderland
It's been 10 days since I finally got to meet up with Smitty, '09 Appaloosa colt, and bring him home. Here's how things are going so far:
* He settled right in to our barn with a minimum of fuss. He didn't go off his feed at all from the trip or change of place. In fact, he devours everything we put in front of him. He eats Purina's Omolene 3oo (formulated for foals and weanlings), and a mix of grass and alfalfa hay.
* Instead of giving him an equine babysitter, which would just give him the opportunity to marry up with another horse instead of his new humans, he's in the barn by himself. We visit him and do things with him many times throughout the day, and he's reached the point where he nickers to us more than he does the horses out in the pasture--which he can see and talk to when they come up around the barn.
* He lives in a secure, roomy box stall at night, and goes out into a roomy corral-type enclosure during the day, so he can be in some sunshine and soak up vitamin D--an important thing for good bone/cartilage development. He wears a baby fly mask. We had to desensitize him to the sound of the Velcro tabs being pulled apart, but after that, he got used to wearing it.
* The hidden blessing behind having him change locations from day to night, and vice versa, is that he automatically has to practice being caught, haltered, and led from place to place. This also gives us lots of chances to practice "whoa" and "go" with vocal commands and body cues. When he stops at a gate or stall door, I always say "whoa" as reinforcement for "stop moving."
His whole set of leading/obedience skills has made a lot of progress in 10 days because of this.
* I take him on training walks around the ranch two or three times a day. This lets him see new sights, encounter changes in footing, etc. He readily goes in and out of the washrack and the trailer, walks under arbors and through garden spots, and is learning to negotiate in-hand obstacles without really knowing he's being trained. He's fearless about walking over new surfaces, which is unusual for a baby. Come to think of it, he hasn't spooked or balked at anything so far. An aptitude for trail obstacles, maybe?
* He got his first spanking this morning, when he sneaked in a nip on my right arm as I was leading him. Unacceptable! No matter how cute you are!
Upcoming lessons: learning to wear his baby splint boots, and being ponied from another horse.
So far, so good....and fun!
posted by Juli Thorson @ 6:28 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Sounds like you are having a great time with that new addition.
Ahh - the sound of velcro. My husband almost got bucked off his horse one day when he opened his veclro closure saddle bags for the first time. But what did we do without it.
Take good care of that little guy.
Wow! Never really thought of any of that as training. Just bonding with Paha when he came home. I even walk to the mailbox with him, grass, gravel, hardpack and cement. Now that the mornings are cooler, the mosquitoes hide, so we can walk in the woods now. Thanks Julie! Now I know I am doing something with my boys!
The truth is, we are training our horses every time we interact with and handle them, whether we/they realize it or not.
I personally cannot stand a horse that doesn't halt in his tracks when you say whoa; that pushes into your space and walks all over you when he feels like it; and that won't stand tied quietly. These are basic manners that we can teach horses from day one, and it just takes repetition and constant consistency in "what the rules are." A consistently obedient horse is the product of a consistently aware and reminding human!
These are all the kinds of things we did with your Paha when he was here. He lived in the stall and corral that Smitty is in now!
Bravo, you are doing exactly what I do with a youngster. I've found that having a baby spend time by him/herself as a weanling, they are much more willing hand happy away from the herd as an adult!
I handle all of my horses twice a day. They are caught and led into and out of the barn every morning and evening.
Lulu, I agree--If a horse learns to be away from other horses when very young, he is less herd-bound as an adult.
Once Smitty reaches 6 months of age and can have his shots, I'll start taking him along to horse events, so he can practice "going to town." That'll make life a lot easier once it's time for him to go to a horse show or trail ride, "for real." He'll be used to the environment of strange horses, loudspeaker, arena tractors, etc., and won't be nearly as stressed as the horses that are expected to compete or ride quietly with no prior experience at handling the overall environment.
I have a yearling coming two(late fall baby)a 3 year old and a 4 yearold I'm training....whew! The 4 year old has been a catalyst for me becoming more aware as a trainer, (she is EXTREMELY rigid and bracing on the right).
What I wanted to say is I have been experimenting with equally using both sides of the horse, I was amazed at how routine and habitual it is for me to automatically work from the horses left side. I use a rope halter and have turned it inside out and tie it on the right side, it was surprising how the horses were as habitual as I on the left.
They automatically turned to be haltered and found it awkward to bend and drop thier heads to be haltered and bridled from the right. I also bridle and mount now from the right, It has been a challenge for myself to retrain and become more aware of my habit.... how much more so it must be for the horse.
Just something I wanted to throw out there to think about as you develop habit and routine with the new one.
I have been surprised and challenged to become more balanced myself.
Hi Smitty! Just want you to know your momma is a very nice lady! She helped me learn the ins and outs right away and when it was time for me to go to my new home in Michigan, I made a big impression! It will be really cool to read about you and where you are in training. My momma does not ride me yet, I have lots of growing to do, but she puts on my very own , brand new, purple saddle pad and we go for a walk and today is the first time I got to carry the mail and some packages in my saddlebags! I like helping her out and soon you will be doing stuff too!
You friend, Paha!
Thanks, CRae. Good advice!
Smitty was a bit spooky on his right side when he arrived, so I've been paying extra attention to working from and on that side. He's much better now.
Awww, that is such a cute message from Paha to Smitty!
To other readers: appywoman won the 2008 horse raffle conducted by the Appaloosa Museum & Heritage Center, and Paha was the prize.
He received his basic handling/mannering instructions while at our ranch, prior to the start of the raffle. We didn't know his registered name at the time, and called him Mister.
Here is a link to one of my posts about Mister, aka Paha, with a picture of me holding him.
http://special.equisearch.com/blog/horsetalk/2008/05/mission-accomplished-mister-goes-to.html
Just bought my first weanling, an overo filly. I did purchase "Bringing Up Baby" by John Lyons and wonder if you have any more resources you might recommend?
Looking forward to more "Adventures in Weanling Wonderland" posts.
The John Lyons book would have been my first recommendation. It was initially produced as a series of articles for Horse & Rider.
Also, the August 09 issue of H&R has a good article, "Weanling Pre-School," with 10 lessons to teach your weanling. The expert we consulted was Team H&R's Robin Gollehon. She has a program called Yearling Head Start, and specializes in working with babies.
If I can think of any other good resources for you, I'll do a post on them.
And, if you have specific questions, you can email them to HorseandRider@EquiNetwork.com, and we'll see to it that Robin gets them.
PS to TexasMissy:
You will find several good articles about weanlings by going to HorseandRider.com, and typing WEANLINGS into the search box.
Thanks very much for the information, I'll be following up on your advice, Horse&Rider has been a terrific source of information for me. Psst! "Adventures in Weanling Wonderland" would be a great series of articles describing how you are teaching Smitty to grow up into a good horse. He is certainly photogenic. :)
I may have to get Smitty a blog of his own. Or maybe a Facebook account! (He has lots of handsome brothers and sisters that could contribute.)
Can you just imagine the response you, sorry, Smitty, would get writing his own blog?!?!?! That sounds like a great idea! Guess he'll be getting his own pc. lol
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