Having built the ‘round pen’ in the arena, we have now procured a ‘Longeing’ or ‘Lunging’ whip so we can teach those horses some respect. Now, for any who are not horse savvy, this does not equate to having built a torture chamber in which I am going to whip the horses. In fact, the end of the whip is never meant to touch the horse. It makes a sound that gets them moving, and that’s all it’s for.
Yesterday I spent a good bit of time in the afternoon actually just standing with the horses in the paddock, holding the long red shaft of the whip out between myself and the horses, letting them look it over and get comfortable with it, then swaying it gently back and forth so they could see that it moves. Next, I dropped the whip end so they could acclimate with the whip’s snake-like appearance. Finally, I tried touching the shaft to the horses, letting them know what it was something about which they could feel secure, and that it was not going to hurt them. Patches and Umber are still nervous about it, but I managed to get Precious interested in some hay cubes that I held over the top of the shaft, and with only five cubes, I got her to where I could rub her down all over with the shaft, and not twitch at all. I’d call that real progress, especially with the one who is usually the most difficult animal to work with!
I think I may spend time for at least the rest of the week working with getting them all comfortable with the whip’s appearance, and the swinging around involved in making the sounds it makes. It may take longer, and of course it may step backwards. But if I can get Patches and Umber as involved with it as Precious is, then I think we will be off to longeing them all, which will make them better and far more attentive riders.
The idea of longeing seems to be that the trainer stands in the middle of a round pen with the whip in hand, and the horse moves around the outside, following commands given by the sounds of the whip. The result is that the horse gets exercise, has fun, and learns to be attentive to the commands given by a human. It is an ideal practice to longe for about ten minutes after saddling up, and before riding, as this will cause the horse to deflate the air in it’s body so the rider can tighten the saddle appropriately. It seems that every horse knows instinctively how to inflate itself when being saddled so that the straps are not tight enough, and the rider falls off.
The next step is to return to the paddock, and with bribes at the ready, see if Precious will still allow a rub down with the whip shaft, and if not, work with her till she will. This will be best accomplished in the afternoon when she is hungry, and will do anything for a hay cube. Then offer food for rewards with Patches till he will allow the same rub down. This literally means standing there with the whip extended out below his head, and offering food over the top of it till he will approach. When he does, gently touching his body with it, where it is in plain sight for him, so he can see and feel that it is okay, and that it is not going to hurt him. This has do be done till he will allow it all over without any twitching. I have a secret weapon too. If he is not responsive to the hay cubes, I can always roll out the sweet oats, which are fare more tempting than a candy bar sized block of grass.
The long term goal is to get Patches to the point where he will no longer stroll around with his head down looking for a bite to eat when he is being ridden, a bad habit that he has gotten into under the hand of my grandmother’s husband. For Precious, it is a matter of learning to ride properly in the first place. Once saddled and mounted, she tends to just stand there and look at her rider’s foot, or she might try to buck, but she gives little attention to commands and does not make for an even slightly enjoyable ride. Umber seems to have been well trained in the past, so I think at this point it will be about keeping up what she probably already has learnt to do well. Trouble with Umber is that her size makes her perfect for a young child, though she did pretty good under my 150 pound step-son on that five hour trail ride a week and a half ago. But she was not keeping up with Patches, whose longer legs allowed him an easier walk over the desert brush. I weigh in at a tad over 200, so he carries a load just fine!
This is all new to me, and I have learned everything in the past months since we moved from England. And what I know so far seems to be like a first step on a thousand mile journey.
Following are the photos of the Arena before rearranging the fence, then a few after building the round pen.
This is the feed shelter. A month’s supply of hay cubes is kept in the large bag at the left, which currently costs just over $150. The shelter provides shade, and has two catch pens under it. Umber is kept separate during feeding, or the other horses will bully her away from her food before she finishes as she is a slower eater.
This view is from the south end of the Arena looking north. This is about an acre of land, or a bit more, which is far more than enough sand for horses to stand around in, and occasionally run about. Originally it was set up for roping, but nobody here does that, so the idea is to arrange it for training the horses, and to give them a paddock appropriate to them.
This view is also facing north. The fencing is aluminum, and gets bent when the horses reach out for a bite to eat on the other side. We need an effective weed abatement program along the road since growing grass in the horses paddock is out of the question due to water costs.
This view from east to west across the narrow width of the arena shows a Ford F-250 at center, to give a little scale.
Here is the north fence after we pulled it 14 feet from the property line, temporarily giving the horses nothing to reach for, and when something does grow, the fence is supported by eight foot railroad crossties that are buried three feet into the ground. They are spaced at ten feet apart. In the future I’d like to get square wire fencing to put on the wood ties and I’d like to have the whole arena surrounded like this. It would free up the corral fence for use inside!
Beyond the north fence, the fourteen foot section will provide a ride out just as soon as we gate this section off. Riders will have this option exclusively after we can get a tack barn put in back by the feed shelter. In the end, I would like road bed put down, and would like to take feed deliveries here too. It may also allow an access for trailers and the like which need not be parked at the front of the property.
Here’s a portion of the round pen made from corralling that was removed from the property line. The looks east by southeast.
In this view looking north by northeast, the round pen is in full view with the horse paddock beyond it. Everything to the front of the image has been reclaimed from the arena, and can be used for training or for anything else, such as other animals, or a barn, or whatever. If you live in the city, this reclaimed section is probably about the size of your house lot.
We used some spare panels to keep a horse on the center of the driveway circle. Free feed is always good!