For those of you who don’t work full time (which I haven’t for a long time!), a long weekend is no big deal. But for those of you who do work five days a week, having the extra day of a long weekend just seems to make all the difference in the world.

Even the extra day gets quickly filled up with things to do, but somehow you still seem to have a chance to get to those things that you have been putting off. For me, I spent part of the weekend doing the family camping thing, part of it was spent doing chores around home, and part of it was spent doing horse stuff - YIPPEE! WOOHOO!! I finally got a chance to ride my filly!

It all came about partly by accident - I had planned to spend a bit of time during the weekend to go out and work her a little. Then my friend John started giving me a hard time. It seems that he had thought she was a little farther along in her training and so last week he had saddled her up, hopped on and rode her for nearly an hour!

Well, not to be outdone, I figured I might as well pick up where he left off, so I headed out there and went for a ride! We rode down the road a little ways with John leading me (ponying Karisma) to begin with, but once we got down to the family picnic area, we rode around first with me following his horse, then afterwards with me riding separately while John trotted and loped his horse around.

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

After a while, John went and saddled up two more horses, and took some of the kids for a ride, and we left Karisma tied up so she didn’t interfere with the youngsters. After a while, as she was getting pretty sick of standing tied, I joined in and we went for a few mini trail rides around the area, even out onto the beach.

Actually, Kari was really good. She tried a few small bucks, more out of experimentation than anything else. There were a few small temper tantrums when she discovered that she couldn’t always go where she wanted to and when, but for the most part she had a really good learning experience.

How exciting to have finally gotten really started on my filly! Now to find a place to keep her closer to home, or to find a place to rent where I can keep her at home... I realize the importance of regular work on a youngster and would like to be able to continue this start.

Til next week, I hope you are getting some time in with your special equine pals!
~ Kristi :)

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As I said last week, though each horse may require a different approach, all are the same in that we need to work around every horse with quiet consistency in order to achieve the final result that we desire. Just like with any part of advancing any horse’s training, the more time you can spend with your horse, the better things will be.

In the case of a younger horse, or one with minimal handling, you need to spend a lot of time just desensitizing them. The part Arabian filly I mentioned needed a lot of that on her legs. She was great to handle otherwise, but she was so flinchy about her legs! To densensitize the legs, first make sure that this horse is comfortable with you standing near them, brushing them, touching them all over the body, etc.

You can use the same advance and retreat methods I talked about in the series about halter training (see the Archives for last winter). Start by running your hands down the forearm of the horse, in a gentle stroking manner. Most horses seem to tolerate this down to the knee quite well, but wherever your horse gets uncomfortable is the place to stop. Hold the spot for a moment, but be careful not to get upset at the horse if he shifts around. Return to stroking the shoulder or neck - somewhere he is comfortable.

Again run your hand down the leg until the point where the horse begins to shift - if you watch carefully you can usually tell before he starts to move - and then back off slightly again. In this manner you can get farther and farther down the leg. It may seem funny at first that we are trying to keep the horse from picking up his leg, but think about the future. You may need to check the leg for swelling or other injury, and a horse who always picks up his foot at the slightest hint of a thought is very hard to check properly!

Consistency is the key when teaching the cue for picking up the foot. Pick a cue and stick with it - the most universally accepted one is to run your hand down the back of the leg to the fetlock joint and to tug at the back of it where the fetlock hair tuft begins. You can also use a verbal command in conjunction with the physical cue - the two more common choices there is “Foot” or the same cluck we use to mean move. That’s my personal choice - I always use the cluck to mean move and what my hands or body is doing is what signals to the horse what part of the body I want to move.

Continued next week.

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

We have added 7 of the best photos from Pleasant Valley Days in Houston this past weekend. You can see them at Photoshow.

There is also a brief video of the Chariot Races at Video North. We will add another video clip of the Chuckwagon Races in the next few days.

What great weather for Pleasant Valley Days for Sunday and Monday!! The crowd loved the racing.

If you have information to share, please email me at kristim@hiway16.com

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

• Baerental Ranch
• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Reimer Ranch
• 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.