KBR Training Case Study:

"Patience"
Part Four

Mmmmm. Snuggies.
Nothing quite like a good Horse Hug

Cindy came out about noon and worked nearly two hours with Sharon and Patience. When they went out into the horse course, Cindy was paying attention to what Sharon was saying and not to Patience and Patience startled when a car went by. She had just reached down to graze and when she pulled up, she pulled the rope out of Cindy's hand and Cindy let her go.

Patience could have run right out of the horse course as they were both near and facing the open entrance, but she didn't. She turned left at the gate and started to graze. Cindy was able to walk right up to her, picked up the lead, and they went around the course again.

It also shows that Patience is getting comfortably adjusted to her environment and is probably not a blind-flight risk. Later Cindy did a lot of body work including handling Patience's legs all the way down to her hooves.

Day 8:

We had projects to do around the stable but I managed to get Patience out a couple of times. Once we visited some construction going on and another time we just wandered around. In the afternoon, Sharon joined in and we worked on quiet haltering.

About 3:30 I took Patience into the round corral. I wanted to work on picking up feet as she needed a trim really badly. I worked using a combination of "click-assurance," "Take Two" and clicking her when she held her feet quietly. This is the first time I had introduced the clicker and in the past I would expect it to take a couple or three sessions before foot picking was solid enough to attempt a trim.

The idea of "Take Two" allows the horse to leave if too stressed. This allows the horse to remain in thinking mode rather than resort to "fight or flight. While the horse may choose to leave, she's going to have to work in the round pen at least two laps. If after that she looks to come back into the center, we allow her to and she can try again to deal with the new stimulus. Patience had to "Take Two" a couple of times, then she was letting me hold her left foot for over a minute at a time. I figured I'd see how far this would go, so I went and got my farriery roll.

When I returned, she stood like a perfect lady while I nipped off overgrowth. I was biting out as much toe as the nippers would take. These were some difficult bites and I had to bear down pretty hard. I got the whole foot trimmed before putting it down. Then I picked up the rasp and rasped the rough edges down. Her foot was still a bit long, but I took it back as far as I felt would be safe until she became accustomed to a more correct angle. I also did not pare out any sole since it really wasn't necessary at this point and I wanted her just a little more experienced so she wouldn't pull or flinch as I was making a cut.

I let her have a short break and then picked up the foot again, seeing if the first time was a fluke. She held it fine and I dressed it up a little more with the rasp.

She wasn't quite as relaxed on her right front. She never had to "Take Two" but we had to start over a few times. She still held it politely while I trimmed and fussed only once when I took too big of a bite and the nippers got stuck and I had to rock them pretty hard to get them free. This foot had a few flares and took me longer to clean up. I actually went back to it shortly after the trim and did some more work to level her sole a bit more and she was great.

It was getting late so I didn't try to actually trim the hinds, but she would let me pick up her hind feet shortly after starting working with them, again with the combination of clicker and "Take-Two" so I have no doubt that we'll get them done on my next day off, Saturday. In the meanwhile, Sharon will work with her getting her more relaxed about getting her hind legs handled.

Day 9:

Sharon worked on Patience's tolerance of having her hindquarters and legs handled. She started to settle down pretty well. They also played some more "touch it!" games, throwing objects and letting her go touch them. Sharon also turned Patience out in the large arena for the first time. She had a blast running and bucking (and doing things which accompany running and bucking) yet still came right back to Sharon when it was time to come in.

Cindy working down
Patience's legs

Even going down the
far leg

A rough looking foot

Patience checking out the action

Note the slack lead line

Another view

Comparing "before and after"

Starting on the right

Day 10:

Cindy came over and worked with Patience. They touched pigs, farriery equipment which oftentimes spooks green horses and the vacuum. (Piece of cake.) Cindy held Patience who was pretty quiet while I trimmed her hinds. Cindy's timing was getting pretty good with "click reinforcement," important since with my bum back I needed Patience to stay relaxed as I worked on her. No problem. This mare can do anything!