First Entry in the Smitty Look-a-Like Contest

OK, kids, would you not say that these two horses look alike?!

One is our weanling Appaloosa, Smitty. One is--well, just wait until you hear this story. (And, hint: Smitty's the one in the halter.)

A picture of Smitty, and my account of his background, appears in my column for November '09 issue of Horse & Rider. Cindy Clapsaddle, a reader in North Fort Meyers, Florida, saw the picture and thought, "Hey--that Appaloosa looks a lot like ours!"

Then Cindy recognized a name in the column, that of Gail Smith--my sister-in-law. And at that point, she realized that her Appaloosa, a filly named Dorie, and our Appaloosa, Smitty, are half-siblings!

They both were sired by An Awesome Secret, a stallion raised by Gail, my brother Mark, and their partner Dave.

It's too bad that Cindy and I are at opposite corners of the country, because I do believe we have a matched pair. Imagine them as a driving pair--now THAT would be fancy!

Smitty's Field-Testing, Continued

There's an old saying among horsemen that "your horse is a reflection of you," and Smitty is proving this to be so, so true.

As I was walking him out in a huge field the other day, I was very pleased with how well he did with the leading lessons he's had in the barn/arena. For the most part, he stayed with my pace, on a lead with slack, and didn't get too eager or anxious. He did what he has been taught, deliberately, to do.

I haven't spent as much time/effort, however, in leading Smitty from the off-side, and this was revealed when I tried a bit of off-side leading out in the field--where there was no defining wall or fence to help with his visual orientation. Instead of going forward with me on his right side, he hesitated and hung back, uncertain of what to do.

Not his fault, but mine, for not giving both sides equal training time. But this, thanks to field testing, is something that's good to know--the better to do a better job at training.

Baby-Training Out of the Arena (Small-Test Moments)

After 60 days of twice-daily handling in and around the barn and our immediate yard, Smitty has what I'd call a 'pretty good handle' on him. He leads well, ties fairly patiently, stands nicely for the vet and farrier, accepts various forms of sacking out, obeys whoa MOST of the time, is solid on his head-down cue, and so forth.

Part of the steady learning curve comes from the application of routine, and from the learning-comfort factor a horse gets from being in a familiar, predictable, perceived-as-safe environment.

So it's always revealing to see what happens in a young horse's behavior when you extend his experience out beyond his normal environment. He will always show you where he needs more deliberate training.

In the rear-view photo, Smitty's going away from the barn and other horses, and while he's not obviously acting up, he's just reached a small-test moment. Instead of keeping right up alongside me, and matching my speed, he's started to hang back just a tad--because he's reaching the end of his confidence zone in terms of being away from his regular zone of space, and is starting to think he might really rather be back at the barn.

I needed an effective cue that would say "come on, keep up, remember that I'm right here, keep paying attention to me," but I hadn't taught him one yet--at least not one that would get him up smoothly alongside me, within a step or two, while continuing straight ahead.

The best I could do in the moment was go for more mental control, while using a cue he already knows. So I diverted our course to the right for several steps. We had a "whoa" moment, with head down--and then walked a circle back to the initial lagging point. Since he'd shown me where he might want to lag back, I activated my walk before we got there, to help keep his energy going forward--and this time he stayed right there alongside me as we continued on out to the nearest open field.

Out in that huge unfenced space, I knew I was going to have to keep mental control if possible--not lose it and hope to get it back before the horse himself got away. So I asked for a couple of stop/back some steps/whoa episodes before Smitty could even think about getting excited. He's done that sequence lots of times around the more familiar spaces near the barn, so he did it here and kept his cool. Then we had a nice, no-issues walk to another point in the field.

Later, I'll show you a few more small-test moments with Smitty that Ed, hubby extraordinaire, caught on camera.

Smitty Gets His Registered Name, and So Forth

Smitty's ApHC papers came in the mail over the weekend, and he is now on the books (in the computer, I guess I should say) as Dakota Smith. I've had that name saved for a horse for quite a while, and Smitty is a good one to have it (with Dakota Smiths, my brother and sister-in-law, as his breeders and all).

We had a spectacular sunny Sunday, perfect for some literal "in the field" training sessions. Smitty and I used part of the yard and garden for some in-hand obstacle practice, and then we went for a very productive "obedience walk" out on the unfenced back side of the ranch. (This is where you really find out if that "whoa" you've been worked on is, indeed, in place.)

After a little hand-grazing time, we moved on to some practice at trailer-loading. Smitty has this down pat--in fact, he's as eager to get in the trailer as the dogs are to get in the truck. We went in and out several times and each time, he hopped in as eagerly as old-pro Tank used to do.

Maybe I should have named him Road Pony!

Data note: Smitty is 7 months old today. He is 13.1 hands tall, 650 lbs., and about to grow out of a size 64 blanket. In the 2 months he's been here, he's grown an inch and added almost 100 lbs.

He went up a halter size, from weanling to yearling. He's met the vet, for shots, and the farrier, hoofstand and all. He ties, and he stands nicely to be clipped.

His next big lesson will consist of learning to pony alongside another horse.

Here is yet another time when I think of and miss good old Tank. He was just the best for ponying babies, and for helping to bring them up in general.

Off Topic: Enjoying the Last Days Before Full, Hard Frost

Up in north Idaho, where I live, the trees are just starting to turn to their autumn colors and the asters, last flowers of the year, are in their contrasting glory.

But it's all going to change soon, because I woke up this morning to the sight of frost at the bottom of the pasture (visible from the kitchen window).

Time is ticking now on the "get ready for winter" clock. And when I went to the barn to feed just now, little Smitty's spots were standing straight up!

The Thing I Love Best About Having Horses Is...

...the fact that there is ALWAYS something new to learn.

For instance: I just figured out, in working with my new weanling, Smitty, that a way to get head/face clipping done without a battle is to first teach and get reliable response to a head-down cue.

I didn't have clipping in mind when I started with the head-down cue--I just thought of it as a way to help him chill out and relax when he got tense or worried about something. (You know how a horse lifts his head up when alarmed? The opposite is when he has his head down, and is relaxed and unstartled enough to be eating, like when he's grazing.)

To teach the cue, I put my hand on the horse's poll, applying the same level of pressure or resistance as the horse offers. If he responds by lessening his pressure, I release MY pressure. If he resists by offering more upward pressure, I increase my own pressure until he delivers even the weakest "give." With a lot of repetition, the horse eventually figures out that the way to escape the pressure I'm putting on his poll is to lower his head.

You can teach this cue to any horse, but it's easiest to teach when a horse is little, like Smitty is (he is 13 hands tall at this point), because he can't get his head up so high you can't reach it. Smitty has been here now for a tad less than 3 weeks, and I've repeated the head-down cue many times, with every handling episode.

In fact, largely because Smitty's current size makes it so easy to do, I've probably asked for "head down" as many times as I've repeated "whoa." And that's a lot. It's been the first thing I do when I walk up to catch him and the last thing I've done before turning him loose. I've done it if he starts to get a little excited while out on a walk, and done it, just for practice, when I'm brushing him. I know it takes a lot of practice to turn something into a good habit for a horse.

Last night, I happened to be grooming Smitty in an aisleway area where I keep my clippers. He was standing quietly, hind foot cocked and resting, and put his head down farther when I asked him to. I turned on the clippers--his head shot up at the sound--but he put it right back down when I gave him the hand-on-poll cue. Brought the clippers in closer--had to repeat the head-down cue--but he gave to it just like before. The next thing we both knew, I was clipping his bridlepath with his head down and neck relaxed, and he didn't think anything of it.

Eureka!

You'd think I might have connected the dots on this, re: how to achieve no-fight clipping, one heck of a long time ago. But nope, it was a late-coming Lightbulb Moment.

Got one of your own you'd care to share?