Cisco is a 5 year old gelding who has been handed down through several parties, some whom have apparently not treated him very well. He was particularly disturbed by men. He was picked up by Margo Macleod who wanted to place him in the project in order to better adjust to being handled by a variety of humans. We found Cisco to be extremely bright, willing and gets along easily so long as he is offered a fair deal. At first he was very defensive if a man entered his pen, however within a couple of days of being handled by male mentors, he became quite sociable with men. Sharon and Margo started out by playing some clicker games with Cisco to get his mind "tuned in." He adapted to the games rather quickly. We also led him out to the horse course on his first day and he willingly took every obstacle out in the course.

Simple targeting Honking a horn

Cisco had some difficulty with balance and having anyone touch him near his hindquarters. The balance issue showed up when we would try to lift a foot. He would basically fall over. We decided to start out with some basic TTeam approaches to address these issues. Hue got him to focus in a small labyrinth, then she and James applied a body wrap. The wrap was a new disturbing sensation for him, but he shortly settled down and handled himself nicely.

Warming up in the labyrinth

Wearing the body wrap

Working nicely

While Cisco still had some issues to resolve regarding staying upright when a foot was lifted, he now seemed quite comfortable to let Margo reach back and touch his hindquarters, and down his hind legs both inside and out. To be continued... Press "Back" to return to the page that brought you here Return to Case Study Section Return to Lucky Horse Project 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, © 2001 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.