He loaded great this session and just walked into the trailer, the two year olds were playing in a pen behind him where he could see them and that worried him, but nothing more than big eyes. I encouraged him to chew and by sticking my fingers in his mouth and moving them around. When a horse is chewing he is thinking and able to use the non instinctive side of his brain. A horse can’t retain what is taught if he is not in thought. Thinking instead of reacting is a KEY for a calm horse.
Once he chewed he relaxed and though was still worried, he realized he was ok.
When other horses play and are frisky, RZ does not know yet they are just playing or if they are acting that way because predators are after them. I find this happens when a young horse sees a reining horse spin or a horse jumping over jumps and even just cantering in a group. The young horse instinctively wants to react to get away to be safe.
Next session he walked right in the trailer again and I had a friend close the trailer door behind us. I had some hay for him to eat and we stood in there for about 5 min then I had her open the door and we backed out. He backed out nicely one step at a time.
The next session was time for a ride in the trailer. It was a slant trailer opened up like a stock trailer. RZ walked right in and I had him turn around so he was facing the back. Horses usually like to ride this way.
I took off his halter so he could not catch it on anything. I left him, shut the doors, and drove around our driveway. We have a large drive where I can make right and left turns. I drove VERY slow letting him get the feel of the floor moving. I stopped and went back to get him out. He was standing braced in the middle of the trailer with very wide eyes. Once he saw me he relaxed and I haltered him. I had him chew using fingers wiggling on his tongue. He did. I turned him around and backed him out. He backed out well. He was getting the hang of it pretty well.
Next session we did a video of his baby exercises in the indoor. The video has the cues I use to signal him to do his baby exercises.
The day is here for RZ to go home. I fed him his breakfast and turned him out as usual. The owners arrived late morning, I had the owners park the trailer in the same area as I had been loading him. If possible I like to make as few changes as necessary when a horse is learning a stressful thing. The trailer changed but the place was the same and the type of trailer was mostly the same, except this one had a ramp.
When it was time to load him I led him up to the back of the trailer. The ramp did not lay flat on the ground, before I could say anything, the new owner’s dad realizing this, stood with his foot on the corner so it did not wobble. A wobbly Ramp would be harder for RZ to realize he was safe to walk on it.
Loading took under two minutes for him to figure out it was OK to walk on the ramp. He resisted by not moving, then pawed it with one front foot, then sniffed it and licked it then chewed on it. This is the normal way a foal investigates his world. Though usually it is sniff, lick, chew then paw. Once he was done investigating he stood on it with his front foot on the edge, and then backed off a couple of times. He did this to test if it was safe. I just signaled him to get back on. He decided it was safe and walked in, he slipped a little on the way up but loaded great.
He was quiet in the trailer. They had previously removed all partitions so it was like a stock trailer and very safe. We took off his halter and shut the door. He had a LONG ride home. He was a bit sweaty at the first stop but ate hay. The rest of the stops he was no longer sweaty and doing well.
He arrived and is doing great in his new home. I am confident that he will do well with his new owners!
This will be the last post for RZ.
Watch for future updates from his new owners under the category of Updates for Indian Artbeat foals.
Tags: AQHA, Equine training, foal training, horse training, Indian Artbeat, Indian Rizing, Marie Hoffman, OEW Equine Center, On Eagles Wings Equine Center, prospect, RZ, Training, TTEAM