KBR Horse Training Information Exercising Body AND Mind "Gentling Wild Horses- 101" Part Four

Letting the horse check me out

TOUCHING WITH A BRUSH AND HAND

Important Note! Some of these sequences were photographed decades ago before we participated in a helmet safety study. The results of the study were impressively conclusive. Since 1998 we always wear approved helmets when training and handling horses. Once the horse is comfortable being touched by the pole and his attention span is sufficient that he remains curious and is "with me," I'll make some direct contact with him. I'll start by using a long handled counter brush that can be found at any hardware store. This type of brush is safer as I can keep my hand away from the horse at first, generating less "body pressure" on him and also keep my hand clear if he stresses and tries to strike the brush. At this point many horses will tolerate a close approach and use of the brush without restraint. Our case study horse needed some reinforcement so I applied a safe, sliding neck loop. (You can read complete details on this process by going to the Sliding Neck Loop feature.) OBJECTIVE: Make the transition from pole to direct contact My first objective is to get the horse curious about my stepping in a wee bit closer to him than before. I may be able to simply work my way closer as I rub him with the pole. With Lucky I needed to apply the sliding neck loop to limit his lateral movement. (With the loop he could still walk forward or back up if felt he needed to.) First I will let him get used to having the rope over his neck. Then I'll put the loop together. What I absolutely don't want is to emulate a cowboy with a rearing wild horse at the end of a rope. Rope across the back Once I have the horse comfortable with the rope, I will approach at the shoulder and see how the horse responds. If he can't go sideways, he'll likely shift his weight forwards or backwards, letting me know which way he intends to go if my pressure is too much for him. I'll try to counter this tendency by placing myself slightly forward or aft of the shoulder, creating a little bit of "counter pressure." Lucky, being a "forwardaholic," also needed some visual reinforcement by means of the longe whip with the string tied off which I would move gently up and down in front of his nose to keep his attention and discourage forward movement. I used the exact same approach with the brush as I did with the pole, the only difference being that I could saw back and forth with the pole, but naturally had to stroke the horse with the brush. The same logic applied with respect to finding "safe zones" and working my way out from those areas into new territories. I also did not feel that it was appropriate to take the brush down this particular horse's legs on the first session. Lucky was handling the situation darn well considering his normal state of mind, so it was more important to keep the activities pleasant and reduce the number of stressful encroachments that I attempted as his attention span waned. Once he was good from neck to rump with the brush, I touched him with my hand. Lucky, like some horses, flinched at anything new, so I treated my hand like every other "tool." Also some horses like being scratched and some prefer being rubbed. Lucky preferred short rubbing strokes which is how I worked him. Brushing the horse Touching with the hand Now comes the time where the "rubber meets the road." Can the horse tolerate being brushed and touched without any restraint? If I have used approaches that did not threaten the horse, and if the pace at which I applied these approaches generated more curiosity than fear, then I should be able to remove all restraints and again make contact with the horse. As one can see from the photographs, lucky stood to be brushed and to be rubbed by hand with nothing attached to him. (I did continue to hold the longe whip at first to keep his mind off the idea of creeping forward, but I eventually put it down.) The reader should note that while Lucky started forward and bumped into the whip a couple of times, I would simply stroke his nose with it and at no time did I ever strike him with it. This entire sequence took about an hour. We may have to repeat it all over tomorrow and it may take nearly as long, or he may remain comfortable with being closely approached and I may have my hands on him in a couple of minutes. How that goes is up to Lucky and the amount of background stress that he is packing. The important issue is that we can make contact without generating a "flight or fight" response and the horse actually likes most of these encounters. Brushing the horse (No neck rope) Touching with the hand (No neck rope) Part Five deals with some safety issues and provides some background on how we prepared Lucky for the activities shown in this feature. Continue to Part Five Return to Part Three Press "Back" to return to the page which brought you here Return to KBR Training Section Return to KBR World of Wild Horses & Burros Return to LRTC Wild Horse Mentors 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.