Horse Information - Aussie Horsemen

This week's extract from the Horseman’s Diary is a little different ... ratherthan just a horse training story with a happy ending, I’d like to share with everyone thefirst few weeks of Dirk’s stay here with us at QSSC.

Dirk is a terrific little bloke ... well! ... not so little at around 15.2hh and as solid asthey make them. He’s a magnificent pitch black Friesian stallion owned by some wonderfulpeople who happen to be fairly near neighbours of ours.

Dirk was sent to me to stay for a while, for me to take him through the QS programme. Ourneighbors had not long owned Dirk and he was pretty pushy. They just wanted him to be wellmannered, handle well on the ground and to be easy to handle when servicing mares etc aswell as during day-to-day care of him. They also wanted him to be able to really show offhis presence and full potential ... things I think all Stallion owners would aspire to.

So Dirk moved in one Saturday afternoon. When he arrived we actually had a play day going onso we had lots of visitors and their horses, all out playing around and doing variousthings. Now Dirk ... while certainly far from being a rogue stallion, was still ‘all boy’ ifyou know what I mean and wasn’t the easiest to handle. His owners wanted us to clear a paththrough all the other horses so they could take him straight to his yard, which would be hisnew home for the time being.

We’d discussed his training and his housing before he came to us and I explained to hisowners that I wanted to have him out and living with my geldings as soon as possible. I knewthat he would benefit greatly by being exposed to other horses, living in a herd situationand learning a lot from them. The biggest trouble with stallions that live in isolation isthat they forget their herd manners and can become extremely aggressive and difficult tohandle, so I wanted him to learn again how to first be a horse and live in a herd, before Idid too much with him. I would have liked to put him in with my lead mare Angel who, in myopinion, is the best horse trainer we have here at home. She has done wonders over the yearsfor many of our horses and visiting ones too, in helping them to learn to socialize andyield and be a horse, which ultimately means a happier life for all including the horselearning the lesson. This wasn’t an option though so the geldings would have to do.

Also, having him in with the geldings would make my task a lot easier as they could do halfthe work for me.

Dirk still had a few things to learn though before I would be happy to put him in with myprecious boys as I knew if I just put him straight in with them, one or more of them wouldget hurt.

So, when he arrived, we put him into one of our stallion yards where he had room to move,good strong fences, shelter and company, albeit it through stallion fencing.

As his owner led him down to his yard, Dirk threw his head up in excitement at allthe new horses around him, puffed himself up and his owner practically had to arm wrestlehim into his yard. It was only because he is such a nice horse that he didn’t take fulladvantage of his strength and just leave ... as his owner really would not have been able tostop him. Friesians are very strong indeed.

His owner got him settled in safely and I went for a visit just to say hello. Dirkimmediately pulled his ears flat back on his head and gave me that look that only stallionscan give ... “Don’t come one step closer or else!”

Later that day when everyone had gone, our apprentice and I went to visit him once more andcheck him out. Again the ears went back and he barged at the fence in a warning. This guywas not going to be a push over, as we discovered when we fed him. He had a veryintimidating way about him ... always ears back, always lots of energy, coming straight atanyone who came near, looking at us out of the corner of his eye in preparation for maybe abite, a kick or a strike. As yet he hadn’t followed through; however I banned anyone fromapproaching him at all ... even to the fence ... until I had had the chance to do a littlewith him. His reflexes were as fast as a 600kg snake and he was a master at getting youcornered and feeling very vulnerable. Our apprentice who was a very skilled and confidentyoung lady, decided that she would only enter his yard via the yard gate and not through thestable (as he would come rushing in at you with his ears back and get you cornered in thestall!) and she would always carry a stick and plastic bag to make sure he stayed rightaway. Smart move I reckon.

As I said, my goal was to have him out with my horses asap so they could help me with him,but first we needed to make sure he had a few yields and a bit of respect so, 1) he wouldn’tget hurt and 2) he wouldn’t hurt my boys.

For the next week or so, I played with him just in his yard ... just building a few basicyields and communication, making sure he didn’t feel threatened in any way or that I wastrying to dominant him ... the quickest way to get hurt with a stallion is to be seen as athreat. I have a lot of long hair which I always wore tied back securely so I could see, ashe was as fast as lightening and very, very intelligent and I couldn’t afford to get caughtoff guard or off balance.

After a week I had him yielding pretty nicely in a basic way ... 6 directions, touching himall over, all short range. It was time to take him out of his yard and into the arena. Thearena was right next to his yard with about 50m of ground to cover to reach the gate. I hadto be prepared and to keep his attention as I knew that if he decided to leave there waslittle chance of me physically stopping him ... I had to rely on our communication andrapport at this point. I’d seen him pretty much drag his owner, who is a pretty big guy,around at his will. Success! ... We made it smoothly to the arena which was a very excitingplace for Dirk ... lots of room to move, other horses to look at and the generalexhilaration that horses feel at being somewhere new.

For another 2 weeks we continued with this pattern of basic yields, then going to the arenafor longer range yields and communication building ... it was a lot of fun and we weregetting somewhere, but I knew for the next step I’d have to ask for more so I’d need bettercommunication and respect ... it was time to move him in with the boys!

I wasn’t too worried about my boys as, although Dirk was definitely the aggressor of thebunch, my fellows had a few things in their favour. For one they were older and as a resultmore sensible and less likely to feel the need to take on a new ‘bloke’ as a challenge. Theyliked their peace and quiet so wouldn’t be to interested in any dominance games. They werealso in a large area so if they needed to they could get away from Dirk. Plus, they werefaster! ... Friesians are great horses but not known for their speed so I was certain thatmy Thoroughbred could easily get out of reach and even my Warmblood if it came to that. Iwas also realistic that if they did get into a scrap, they would lose a bit of ‘bark’ but Iwasn’t worried about it ... for me it’s not a major concern ... .it’s all a part of horsesbeing horses and meeting for the first time. I was concerned for Dirk though as I knew hisowners would not want him marked in any way, so I wanted to stack the odds in my favour asmuch as possible ... that was why I chose Dirk’s new room mates carefully and also why Iwanted him doing and understanding basics yields first! ... So it wasn’t all up to my boysto teach him some manners.

I chose a moment when my boys were on the far side of the paddock to take Dirk to his newhome. We went through the gate and to the middle of the paddock before I took his halter offand let him go. His energy was up, of course, at the prospect of meeting these new paddockbuddies; however I made sure his attention was on me and that he was soft, relaxed andflexed toward me before I let him go.

By now my boys were getting curious and had started to come over to where Dirk and I were. Ilet Dirk go and walked a little way away to give them all room. Dirk immediately revertedback to his old pushy habits and charged straight over to my boys with his head up, chestpuffed out as if to say, “Here comes the boss!”

My boys were curious and wanted to meet him, however Geoffrey, the warmblood, took one lookat this dominant and some what rude approach and stopped dead ... puffed himself up like astallion (he’s a BIG horse) ... stood his ground and gave Dirk the look of “take one stepcloser buddy and find out what happens.” Dirk ignored him and kept right on coming ... likea freight train that 'ain’t gonna stop!' Geoff tossed his head, gave his loudest deepestsqueal and struck out at Dirk so fast that I had trouble seeing it ... like a Jackie Chanmove. This stopped Dirk in his tracks, now about 20m away from the boys. He looked at Geofffor a second then came barreling on in again. Once more Geoff (who had maneuvered my T/BredAtlas behind him in a protective position) squealed and struck ... again with lighteningfast reflexes. Dirk stopped again ... a bit shocked I think at being stood up to. Geoffwheeled and turned Atlas and they moved away from Dirk. He had decided that Dirk was toobossy, too rude and was not going to have anything to do with him and neither was his herd(Atlas). Dirk of course followed, at the trot now. Geoff wheeled again, struck out andcaught Dirk in the chest ... just a warning blow nothing more. This time Dirk laid his earsback and came at my boys with a vengeance. The boys took off with Dirk in hot pursuit. Theboys soon outdistanced him and ran to a far corner of the paddock ... leaving Dirk standingall by himself wondering what was happening.

After a few minutes Dirk tried his approach again ... much in the same manner. Once moreGeoff decided he was just being too rude and defended his personal space ... this time from40m. He wasn’t going to let Dirk get any closer. Every time Dirk tried, he was met withGeoff’s rebuttal ... if he came at the boys in earnest they simply left him behind. Thiswent on for some time before Dirk eventually gave up and began grazing. I figured now Icould safely leave them in peace.

It took Dirk three weeks of his approaches to figure out that he needed some manners. Geoffsimply would not let him anywhere near his herd ... he figured Dirk was simply too rude sohe was kept out of the herd. Being a part of a herd is in all horses’ primary instincts ...even those who have been kept in isolation, so Dirk was desperate for approval andacceptance. At first he wanted it on his terms but he soon learnt that he just couldn’t haveit that way. Every time he tried to come in, Geoff would keep him away and would not let himwithin 20m, at the least, of his herd of two.

Eventually Dirk’s manner began to change. Partly because of all the work thatI was putting in with him each day but also because of the invaluable help that Geoff gaveme too. I couldn’t have done it without him.

The boys never did accept him completely into the herd as the leader Dirk wanted to be,however after a month or two they would let him graze pretty close by. Dirk did get so goodthough that I could ride him out with other horses on the trail, even mares, without anyproblems at all, and I often rode him in clinics with inexperienced people who were none thewiser. He would calmly line up alongside the other horses without ever an ear back or asideways glance and I saw none of those aggressive stallion expressions again. In fact,after a very short while, he would see me coming and his ears would go forward, his headwould go up, his eyes would shine and he’d call out to me in his distinctive voice ...“Let’s play”. He was a real pleasure and a lot of fun to have around.

For me the whole experience was an invaluable lesson in many things. How important a horse’smanners are in their acceptance by the herd, the lengths a horse will go to, to protecttheir personal space, how fast a horse can kick and strike when they mean it and just howmuch a horse’s disposition can change when he is confident, happy and knows his place in hisworld. I know that Dirk was just as happy spending time with me as I was with him. Thanks toBig Geoff.

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