The Little Horse That Could - and Did (Part 2)

Raime’s first four years were pretty simple, and then I decided at age four he was old enough to become a regular riding horse. An intense two weeks followed, then I got busy with other things again and he was left alone for most of the next year. I picked him up again in the summer of his five year old year, put another two week session on him, and leased him out to a 12 year old girl.

At that point, we felt that due to his quiet and gentle nature, Raime was well suited to being a kids horse. With his poor start we felt he would never really amount to much of anything, and so I concentrated my training time on his son, Riser. Riser and I went on to learn more and more, about starting young horses and more specifically about reining. I was hooked after my first clinic - how exciting it was!

Meanwhile, Raime came home from his lease homes and each time he did I added some more lessons to his repertoire. By the time he’d been to his third lease, I decided to keep him for a while and use him for gymkhana. At first, he wasn’t all that good at gymkhana, for one thing, he really wasn’t fast at all!

Then we moved to Smithers, and I let my niece use him for gymkhana, pleasure and reining. They did well together but after a time, my niece quit riding and I took him over. I kept refining his training, and slowly we began to edge out the other gymkhana competitors.

Please let us know what you think -
take part in the new Reader Survey and you have a chance to win a colourful hiway16.com mug - survey is only open until December 3

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

His responsiveness to the cues allowed him to make closer turns and quicker stops, so he turned in quicker times than many of the faster horses.

Then came the dreaded day when Riser - my show horse for pleasure and reining - suffered a back injury. Always a bit weaker on one side, Riser twisted his back over a small jump, and was sidelined for much of the summer. Raime had been doing so well in the reining training I used for teaching him to be a gymkhana horse, I decided to try him in the BV Slide-In with a scant two weeks of preparation. And the rest, they say, is history!

We took the local saddle clubs by storm for several years - wins and high points and year end awards in everything from Western Pleasure, Trail, Western Horsemanship, Gymkhana, Reining and even Team Penning! While team penning didn’t make all that much sense to Raime, he still performed like the well broke horse he had become.

After you do well at home, though, you have to make the decision to either stagnate, or venture out in the bigger world beyond your local area. I decided to give it a try - after all, we were finally starting to get lead changes!

Continued next week - we make history!

Foal Announcements View the latest or...
If you have a Foal Announcement you wish to submit, click here

Would you like to Share a Trailer Ride? View the rides offered here... or submit your offer for a ride here

Life can be much simpler with a home raised baby, as chances are you have had the time to handle your foal from birth. A home raised baby might be more of a precocious brat, but you shouldn’t have any trouble getting near him!

You can utilize a lot of the previous six columns to start the haltering process, but instead of it taking that long, you may be able to progress in one or two short sessions. In spite of your foal’s previous handling, be careful to watch for signs of overload.

Just as grown horses have different temperaments, so do those babies! Some foals will be extremely nervous about new things, and those foals need a slower progress rate. Likewise, don’t push too hard on a quiet baby as it is easy to overdo it simply because they are so accepting!

Signs of overload include obvious signs of stress - high head, rolling eyes, panicky behaviour, complete lack of focus. Any time you see these symptoms, back off and slow down - it pays off in the end!

You can start with your home raised baby by going fairly quickly to the halter and leadrope stage. Make sure you allow time for the foal to become accustomed to the halter - you can do this by leaving it on for periods of time under supervision. Beware that a foal who is not being watched can quickly get a hind leg caught under the halter and can do serious damage to itself - don’t leave a baby with a halter on unsupervised unless it is a proven breakaway halter designed for a smaller horse.

If your foal is leery of the haltering process, try using two halters - one to leave on the foal while you work, and the other a little larger to put on and take off repeatedly over top of the first halter. This way the baby is not completely free to run away and is easier to catch again should she get loose in between tries.

Once the baby has been fitted with the halter several times, and is used to the repetitive haltering, you can attach a leadrope and begin the leading lessons. We’ll cover those next week!

If you have comments or suggestions along the way, please share with me at kristi@hiway16.com

Quite some time ago, when I was on the hunt for topic ideas, Trina from Alberta wrote in and asked me for tips on handling adult horses who had been spoiled. It’s taken me a long time to get to this column, I guess chiefly because I count myself lucky not to have spoiled horses! (well, I suppose that is a matter of opinion, isn’t it?)

It took me a while to think of what actions could be considered spoiled. I determined that many of us correct these behaviours in our new horses without realizing we are even doing it - simply because our tolerance levels are different than those of the previous handlers. Everyone handles their horses differently, and everyone demands (or doesn’t) a different level of respect from their horses - this is what shapes the way a horse interacts with the humans in its life.

However, many horse owners are new to working with an animal 5 to 10 times our own size. This column will be geared chiefly towards them - to help them understand what behaviours are not generally accepted in a horse, and how to help correct them if they already exist. When possible I will also try and outline some management techniques to prevent those problems from arising.

To start with, I’ll list the “spoiled horse symptoms” I could identify.
- pushy in hand, leading the handler, stepping on feet, crowding
- won’t tie quietly (fussing, pawing, pulling back)
- chewing leadrope and/or untying oneself
- hard to catch
- pushy or cranky attitude when being fed
- not picking up feet when asked
- not moving over when asked
- nipping or biting
- won’t load quietly
- hard to deworm / bridle / clip

If you have seen other problems you would like covered, please email me at kristi@hiway16.com with "spoiled horse” in the subject line. At this point I won’t even begin to cover spoiled horse symptoms that occur under saddle - that would open up a whole new realm of possibilities!

Many horse owners may recognize some of these symptoms from the list, and may actually be surprised that they are considered problems. There are a lot of handlers who have not had hours of instruction to shape the way they handle their horses, and as many horses are viewed as pets by their owners (albeit 1000 pound pets!), you can see how easily it is to overlook small misbehaviours until they become large ones. With the horse’s superior size, misbehaviour can quickly become dangerous.

Continued next week....

Northern BC Horse is sponsored by local businesses who support equine sports in our area including:

• Baerental Ranch
• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Griffin Crick Ranch
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Ridennoure Paint Horses
• The Tack Store

Do you have a horse or equipment to sell? Want to buy a horse or equipment? Check the Free Classified Ads