KBR Training Case Study

"Hope"

Part Two

Can we be friends?

This was one of those situations where we just had to go with the flow. I could rub her face, ears, neck, chest, and withers. It all seemed exciting and somewhat stressful to her at the same time so before long it was time to stop for the day, but I had rubbed and scratched her until both my arms ached.

An ear rub

Under the jaw and chin

Over the forehead

Over the eyes

Down the neck

Sharon got some brief time in before the weather turned bad and Hope continued to allow human contact if she was rubbed with the pole first.

The weather cleared Friday to allow a third work day. The morning started out rather busy as it was horse dental day. There were a number of people around and the dental work took place in the round pen right next to Hope's pen. It was time for her to get used to humans moving around outside her pen and all the activity seemed to help.

Several of us worked with her and soon she started letting us get in and make contact without having to first work her with the pole. Even with all the extra people around, she pretty much stayed focused and showed a great deal less anxiety than she did during earlier encounters.

Some of the dental work

Betty Retzer approaching Hope

Up close and personal

James Kicker gets involved

We continued to work on walking up and making contact, but we also continued quiet work in the chute with people on both sides. As she became more relaxed with this, we started preparation for haltering by using a rawhide loop which we could pass over her head, down around her neck, and back off. She soon was undisturbed by the loop rubbing her or passing by her eyes and ears.

James passing the loop over her head