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skigod377 wrote:
Dang that sounds like it would be so much fun. I would love to gentle horses.
Yeah, it’s fun…but I have to regain all my patience, it’s been a long time since I trained horses, Dancer was my last trainee, and he is now 16 years old, so it’s been 14 years. I’ve forgotten how touchy and skittish young horses can be. Thankfully Kaji isn’t really that bad he’s just greenbroke, and will need a lot of hours being ridden to get him where I want him.
Twilight will be the challenge, she’s gonna need training from start to finish mostly.
But I got Dancer when he was 2, and trained him from the start, and he’s become a great horse, so I am sure I can manage this, if it hadn’t been for their prices though, I would have sought older already well trained horses. Cause training really wasn’t something I had wanted to do again, but getting two horses for $600 was too good a deal to pass up.
Kyrin
boskydragon wrote:Kyrin wrote:tasgrs wrote:Kyrin wrote:Just wondering, anyone whith horses here ever use the Dr. Cook Bitless Bridle?
I have one; I ride my stallion, the gelding and one of my mares in it. It works pretty well once you’ve gotten it fitted correctly. The instructions are fairly clear that came with it. I like it better than the mechanical hackamore because there are no shanks that my boys can flip upside down. 😛 And mine is the beta, not the leather. THAT aspect, I LOVE. When I want to clean it, it goes into the dishwasher. (Yes, I said dishwasher 😆 ) By itself, not with the dishes…unless I’m ticked off at the hubby……
Great…that what I got! Cool.
Kyrin
Hmmm… I’d never heard of this. Let me know if you like it too, Kyrin. My new babe has a strong fear of anything being put in her mouth (worming was not fun; next time I’m going to squirt it into some sweet feed) and I’ve been using a hackamore. But, she doesn’t understand turning at all and interprets everything as “back up”. She’s so mixed up, poor thing, but willing. This sounds like a promising alternative if it really is better for turning.
Try fruit roll ups! We have a gelding that didn’t like his bridle put on but lovvvves sweets so we’d wrap a fruit roll up around his bit and right in it would go!
OKay, I’ve been working with the horses nearly everyday since they arrived. Kaji will now let me halter him without bribery, yay!
Dancer is still being ostracized, poor guy, Twilight is the main offended party, she chases him all over ears pinned back and obviously meaning business. I think if she would accept him, Kaji would just fall in, but for now she has decided she wants nothing to do with Dancer, so he’s out with Kaji too. I hope our little lead mare decides to let him into the herd soon, poor guy is obviously feeling the cold. I love on him as much as I can, but since the other two need the most work, he doesn’t get near enough loves.
Twilight is slowing coming to the conclusion that being petted is not so bad. But she still won’t accept the halter unless cornered, and I am reluctant to do that to her since the whole idea here is to win her trust. So I’ve been bribing her a little with grain, petting on her and letting her smell the halter and rubbing it on her nose a bit. Once she will stand and let me really love on her for a few days, I will see if she will allow the lead rope to lay over her neck. Once she will tolerate that, then I will ask her to accept the halter. My main goal right now is to get her to come to me, let me touch her and trust me a little. Once I get those foundations built, I hope to be able to halter her at will like I do Dancer.
Kaji takes a little coaxing, but once I start petting and rubbing him, he settles and puts his nose into the halter, what a good boy. So he gets lots and lots of brushings and pettings and being told he’s a good boy.
So so far, so good. I am relearning patience, I used to be really patient, still am with horses, but not so much with people anymore. I do still get a little antsy to get the horses where I want them, but I have to remember that it takes time to build trust, and I have no clue what other people have done to these guys.
Anyway, that is all for now…when my saddle arrives I’ll be able to see how well my bitless bridle works, without a saddle though, I just fall off…humiliating, but true. Man am I ever out of shape!
Kyrin
starbreeze wrote:I hope Dancer does get accepted, poor guy. 🙁 Thanks for the update. It’s almost like being there. 🙂
He should, it’ll just take a little while.
They’ve only been together here for two weeks, so we’ve got to be patient, but it is so hard, I feel bad to see him all alone when he should be able to buddy up to the other two.
Kyrin
My saddle arrived today, and I am so happy. I finally got to really see how my horse goes in the Bitless Bridle, and overall there is a very favorable change in him. He is calmer and far more receptive to requests.
I really love everything! So happy.
Kyrin
Jasmine wrote:How is Dancer doing with the group? Still being shunned?
Yes, but not quite as much.
Kyrin
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