KBR Horse Training Information Exercising Body AND Mind Gentling with a Bamboo Pole Part Two

Once we have reached this point in this simple exercise, we have accomplished five objectives: The horse will accept being touched. The horse will tolerate the motion of the pole (and human) without triggering a flight response. The horse will let us into his "space." The horse has begun to learn that encounters with humans aren't necessarily negative. The horse has begun to learn that accepting what humans have to offer is a better deal than thrashing around in the pen. With these seeds planted it's time to move on. If the horse has a halter and drag line, I'll use the pole to "fish" the lead over to me so I can hold it. Since the pole is no longer threatening, I can use it to grab the line, detangle it if it gets caught on the horse somehow, and do other things from a distance that I can't yet do up close. Depending on the horse, I may approach his nose or his shoulder. If I can approach the shoulder, I will resume scratching. If the horse is more comfortable presenting his nose, I'll let him smell the back of my hand, then rub the side of his lips with the back of my hand, eventually getting my hand turned over so I can massage his muzzle with my fingertips, poke my fingers into his mouth and rub his gums. At any point the horse may reach his threshold of tolerance. It's up to me to read the horse and back off before I unintentionally send him off. It's also up to me to be ready to take control of the horse's head (by the lead) if he does react so I can try to keep him facing me and also prevent the horse from presenting me with his back end. If the horse does manage to turn around on me, I'm not going to give a haul on him while I'm looking at his tail. So long as he thinks he can move forward and I'm not pursuing him, he's not too likely to try to kick me. However, if I go after him or try to shut him down, I'm asking for a shot from those hind feet. The pen is small enough that I can pay out some rope and reestablish control from a safer position. In the worst case, I can let go of the rope and pick it up again after things calm down. If the horse doesn't have a halter on, then I'll use the pole to get a sliding neck loop on him so we can proceed farther.

With the horse desensitized to the pole, we can use it to untangle messes that the horse may get itself into. Pulling the rope with the pole Approaching the nose, which we can now do since the horse has started to become desensitized to our presence. Setting up a sliding neck loop

Continue to Sliding Neck Loop Return to Part One Printed copies of this information are available in the LRTC Wild Horse Store Press "Back" to return to the page that brought you here Go to Case Study Section Return to Training Section Return to Wild Horse Mentors Return to KBR World of Wild Horses and Burros Go To KBR Horse Net KBR Horse Training Information, © 1997 Lamm's Kickin' Back Ranch and Willis & Sharon Lamm. All rights reserved. Duplication of any of this material for commercial use is prohibited without express written permission. This prohibition is not intended to extend to personal non-commercial use, including sharing with others for safety and learning purposes, provided this copyright notice is attached. Email us to submit comments or request reproduction permission.