Sacking Out

What a beautiful day it is. The sun is shining and the skies are clear. Still a bit muddy from our recent snow, but dry enough to work with Serenity.

Today was Serenity's first official sacking out. I had previously used my lunge whip to desensitize her to the lash touching her all over, so she understood that the correct answer was to stand still and be calm. In today's lesson I tied a plastic shopping baggie to the lash of my lunge whip to desensitize her to a noisy, scary object coming at her. I hope that makes sense. Her first reaction to the baggie was to kick, strike, and move away from the sack. But once she understood that standing still and relaxing is the correct answer, all of that went away. On the second side, she practically fell asleep, she was so relaxed. Tomorrow I will probably do a second session with the sack, see how she reacts, and determine if she needs a third session. I doubt she'll need a third session as she seems to think on her lesson overnight.

I found a great little article about natural horsemanship and how the effect of release of pressure is where a horse does his learning and not the pressure itself...
training tips

Snow!

Last night we had our first snow this winter. We got about an inch and it's already started to melt off. Which means MUD! So today I'm giving Serenity the day off so it doesn't get too muddy.

In the meantime, I've ordered her bridle, reins, and breast collar from Wind Rider Tack and I ordered her Wintec girth from Jeffers Equine. I still need to have a custom saddle pad made for my used German made American Flex saddle.

Went for a Walk

Today I took Serenity out for a walk down the road to expose her to scary objects. My agenda was to see how she reacted in a new environment to new or scary objects and to see how she reacted to traffic passing by her at speed.

I learned that she naturally stops and looks at something that she is unsure of and that she is not very spooky. Which makes me happy, because the older I get the harder that ground is!

On our walk, Serenity encountered a donkey and it's foal, dogs, trucks, cats, rocks, downed trees, and water puddles. She did great with everything thrown at her. And I am very happy that she was quite willing to drink in all the puddles. On an endurance ride, it is very important that a horse be willing to take care of him/herself by drinking at every opportunity to prevent dehydration. Yeah, Serenity.

My New Ride

Today I traded in my old tired Dodge Dakota in for a 2004 Ford F150. My old Dodge was getting to the point of needing major work done and I really needed a bigger truck so I can pull a horse trailer for competitions. This 2004 Ford F150 happened to be available at our local garage. I really like this truck. In comparison to a Dodge Ram, this truck is better when it comes to visibility for shorter drivers. I can see very well in front and on both sides and the rear. It is a very comfortable ride. Will see how it holds up over time and miles.

No Hoof, No Horse

As the old saying goes, a horse is only as good as his feet. Serenity actually has pretty good feet, despite being overdue on trimming.

Yesterday, I trimmed her front feet and took before and after pics. First pic is of Serenity's right front foot untrimmed. Second pic is the underside of her right front foot. And the last pic is of both front feet trimmed.

I think she has really nice frogs, nice big feet. She also doesn't have any flare to her hoof wall. She does seem to have flat feet.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Yesterday I got my new horse home. I am renaming her Serenity. She's 5 yrs old and is 3/4 Quarter Horse and 1/4 Arabian. Serenity is a good 15 hands tall and is the largest horse I've owned. My other horses have all been Arabians and in the 14 hand range. Serenity is a clean slate. She leads and that's about all she really knows how to do. Using Natural Horsemanship techniques, it only took me about 30 minutes to get her to load onto the Valley stock trailer.

This afternoon I'll work on her feet. I'll take pictures and keep track of how her feet change and improve over time. I'm a believer in using barefoot/natural hoof trimming and it will be interesting to see her feet from start to finish.