From: Kirsten
Dear Jessica, I am the fortunate owner of two trakehner fillies: a long yearling (22months) and a 10 month old. We bred and foaled them ourselves (my mom and I) from the same mare but different sires. The 22month old, Denpasar (Denny) is wonderfully friendly, like a puppy. She leads well and stands in the crossties. The thing is, she doesn't get out of the pasture much and is VERY spooky when I lead her out. I didn't think much of it until last week. I was leading her out with a buddy (my gelding Rascal) totally safely, and she spooked at something, turned to run and hit me square in the face. I was thrown to the ground, put two teeth through my bottom lip and she ran back to the barn.
I had to go in and get stitches so I was unable to take her back out to reinforce.
I haven't had her out since. I'm nervous, not because of her spooking, but the fact that I was injured when I was being totally safe. I had a proper halter, lead shank and was standing in the correct position. There was nothing I could have done (and could do in the future) to avoid being hurt.
Do you have any suggestions for the next time I take her out? I didn't want to put a chain over her nose because she is very sensitive but I will if you think it's necessary. Is she always going to be like this?
We haven't begun leading the 10 month old, Solistice out much, but the times we have, she seems to be more focussed on me and much more relaxed than Denny is.
Solstice is also very sweet, but she puts her ears back when you approach her outside the stall. BUT she never bites. When I go in, she's ok. I think it may be a trait from her sire (not the crankiness) but the hyper sensitivity to being touched. Thanks in advance for your advice. Kirsten
Try taking her out of the pasture all by herself and leading her around to practice these things for fifteen or twenty minutes a day (start with five minutes and work your way up to twenty). Talk to her all the time, and make your body language very clear. If she's paying close attention to you, she's not as likely to spook, and if she does spook, it will be less violent and over much more quickly. And if you're nervous of working with her OUT of the pasture, do them IN the pasture for the first week!
You don't want a horse that walks on top of you -- Denny needs to learn to respect your space and not crowd you. I understand your reluctance to use a chain, but I think it may help if you use one for a while, until she develops the lovely new habits that you are going to teach her. You're not using it as a punishment, but as an attention-getting device, and it will only come into play for a fraction of a second at a time. You must be able to give a quick snap to the leadrope and have her stand at attention -- you cannot afford to make leading into some kind of a pulling contest, because YOU will LOSE.
You and Denny both need to be safe -- that must come before anything else. You already know what can happen to you -- and Denny needs to learn good manners for her own sake as well as for yours. Horses that have nice manners and are easy to handle are liked by handlers, vets, farriers, stable staff, and everyone else who meets them -- people aren't afraid of these horses, and will handle them calmly. On the other hand, the horses that are always leaning on people and stepping on people and barging through doors and pulling on their leadropes are the horses that get hit and kicked and yelled at by humans -- but that behaviour is the fault of whoever SHOULD have trained the horse and didn't. You'll be doing Denny a favour by helping her learn good manners NOW.
Here's how to put a chain over her nose. Run it through the low ring on the left side of her halter (from the outside to the inside), wrap it once around the noseband, and pass it through the low ring on the right side and up to the high ring (fasten it there). With the chain on like this, she will feel it if you give a short, sharp tug to the leadrope, but it won't tighten on her nose, and she will ONLY feel it while you tug the rope (or if she pulls on it).
I would also suggest that you wear your safety helmet when you handle Denny, at least for a while, until you both learn the rules and she accepts your authority calmly. Teeth through your lip -- that's nasty and painful! But a hoof to the head is far, far worse, and coming two-year-olds do like to rear, especially when they aren't quite sure what's expected of them. Play it safe, PLEASE.
On the subject of safety, BTW, don't lead her with another horse. Ever. Take them out of the field one at a time, focus on the horse you're leading, and make sure that it is focused on YOU. You can't do this if you're leading two or three at a time... I know it's tempting, we all get lazy, and I lead mine two and three at a time, but NOT when they're that young, and not until they've learned to respond instantly to voice commands. The fact that Denny could spook and turn to run without you being able to do anything about it makes a very convincing argument for you to lead her -- or any other horse -- ALONE.
Besides, you want to train Denny, right? If you take her off on her own, you can make a game out of holding her attention. Tell her exactly what you want her to do, every single step. Every few steps, ask her to stand, and tell her "good girl" when she does. Give her a pat on the neck, feed her a treat every third or fourth time (not every time) if you happen to have a pocketful of carrot sticks (useful equipment for any trainer). Denny will figure the game out very quickly -- it's called "do as you're told and get praised." Horses LOVE this game. When she DOESN'T do what you've asked, just ask again in exactly the same tone of voice. Always praise her when she makes the effort to do what you asked -- the first few times you say "Whoa" and she slows down, that's enough; after that you can get more demanding and expect her to stop; after she's got THAT down, you can teach her to halt square, but always REWARD THE EFFORT.
Don't take your attention off her -- and she won't take hers off you. Horses get in trouble, and we get in trouble with horses, whenever we make assumptions "she's being quiet, she'll just follow along" and don't pay attention to what is actually going on. There's a secret about horses and their attention spans: they will mirror yours. Horses can pay attention to you EXACTLY as long as you can pay attention to them.
You can also carry a short whip with you, and use the butt end of it to push against her shoulder or the side of her neck to remind her to keep her distance and not walk right on top of you.
Take it slowly, make yourself clear, praise her for trying, lead ONE horse at a time, and STAY SAFE -- that means teaching Denny good manners and keeping your attention on her, and her attention on YOU. This will pay off in a few months when you teach her to longe -- which, in the beginning, is really just leading from a distance. And it will all pay off, many times over, in another year when you start to ride her. You're lucky to have two nice fillies of your own to work with -- just think what an expert you will be by the time young Solstice is old enough to ride!
- Jessica
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