Horse Information - Meurer Horsemanship

Asha and Phoenix were progressing nicely. At this stage we could cause them tocome into us and they allowed me to rub them all over, remaining quite relaxed in mypresence. So it was now time to introduce a halter.

To these timid, shy little horses the halter was something to be quite sceptical about. Istarted with Asha, who is a much more sensitive and shy horse than her little boyPhoenix.

We started in the small round yard where upon showing her the halter she was off - way tooscary. Luckily, I had taught her in the first session to come back to me and face me, fromhere I had more shots at getting her comfortable with the halter. We went back to the goodold approach and retreat. I didn’t want to start by touching Asha straight away with thehalter as she would have not been able to cope at all! So instead I formed an imaginarybubble around her that was the distance from her that I could get with the halter before itwas all going to get too much for her. From this spot I made my way closer through approachand retreat with the halter. During the process there were a couple of times where she hadto leave, however straight back she would come when asked and we would start again. I stayedconsistent with this until Asha would allow me to touch her on the neck with the halter.

Just like I created a sweet spot around the wither when first handling these horses, Icreated a sweet spot with the halter on the neck. From here I started rubbing the halterover her, focusing especially on her neck and passing the halter under her neck to the otherside, where ultimately I would have to pass it when putting the halter on. I really took mytime doing this and made sure Asha became very comfortable with the halter rubbing over herand passing from one eye to the next.

Now it was time to take the halter from rubbing it around the neck to putting itover her nose. At first Asha was explosive in her reluctance to accept this feeling. All ofa sudden she would feel too much and bang, off she would go. So putting the halter over thenose had to be a gradual process where I would pass it over her nose, let her feel it thentake it away. A bit of this and she was coming around very quickly in accepting the halterover her nose. Once I had this, and knowing she had accepted the feel of the halter allaround her neck, it was quite easy for me to put the halter on. Now, although it was on wehad only just started in making sure she was accepting of it and comfortable with it. So atthis stage I put the halter on and off several times. I would the walk away, she wouldfollow, then I would put the halter on and off several more times. I repeated this a lotuntil Asha was very accepting of the halter going on and off. I like to really set them upfor life in these first sessions, putting the time in now so we don’t have to keep goingback over the same ground for extensive periods of time in later sessions. In this case Ashacame round to the halter going on and off without fuss, remaining completely relaxed ingreat fashion.

Phoenix, being a younger, more curious and not so sceptical horse, was a much easier processthan Asha. Once I could rub the halter over him and round his neck, crossing from eye toeye, he became very accepting of the halter going on and off. This being the case, it didn’ttake long until we were teaching him to lead. Starting simply, as always, I would just put alittle pressure on the halter until he stepped forward off it. I really want to teach themto follow a feel, not go into pressure but yield to it. Before long he was leading towardsme and eventually even coming in a little too far crowding my space a bit. So not long afterPhoenix learnt to follow a feel forward, it was time to teach him to follow a feelbackwards. Again I would just put small amounts of pressure on the halter until he steppedbackwards. These animals learn so quickly and are so pure, he was giving me a lovely lightbackup in no time at all.

At this point these two little horses were happy for one person to approach and handle them,but how would they cope with several people, coming into their space and handling them? It was time to find out, as over the course of their lives several people will be involvedwith them, not only Skye and Georgie but also the farrier, vets and friends coming to have alook and say hello. To start this process I had Skye, Georgie and my wife, Bron standingeither side of Asha and, as expected, when the first person came in Asha had her doubts! Wewere patient and caused Asha to relax enough just so we could come into her space, give hera rub, then go away. The first few times were quite interesting as she hopped around, nottoo certain about what all this meant. However, after a few minutes of doing this shestarted accepting various people coming in, giving her a rub, then walking away, followedstraight away by another person coming in from the other side, giving her a rub then goingaway. As we kept going Asha started to realise she had nothing to worry about at all, shestarted licking her lips, lowered her head and just enjoyed the rubs we were all giving herin this exercise.

For just a few sessions with people to date these horses are doing so well andlearning so quickly. For me, I love watching them take in and process information, I lovethat they have different levels of sensitivity and responsiveness and I love that althoughso wild they can come to understand and accept new things in their lives so quickly. We justneed to make sure as trainers we do this in a manner that is fair on them, is done in a waythat they understand, in a way that enhances their lives and is done in the absence offorce, violence or intimidation.

See Also:

Wild Animals:Working With Snowy Mountain Brumbies

Visit James MeurerHorsemanship

Follow us on Facebook.

Comment on this article using the Comment Function below. Discuss this article with otherusers on the Horse Forums.

Joomla Templates and Joomla Extensions by ZooTemplate.Com